Throughout May, the network of the Estonian Diversity Charter, an initiative of the Estonian Human Rights Centre, marked Diversity Month with a series of events bringing together employers, experts and the public around this year’s theme: an inclusive labour market for all. The question at the heart of the month was a practical one – how to build workplaces where people of different ages, backgrounds, mother tongues and life experiences all have a place.
The month opened on 6 May with a quiz night held in cooperation with Bolt, approaching diversity from a range of angles. Led by communications expert, journalist and longtime quiz enthusiast Viktoria Korpan, the event drew 14 teams from the diversity network, with the representatives of the Bank of Estonia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Integration Foundation putting in particularly strong performances.
Diversity Month also reached beyond Estonia’s borders. On 11–12 May, representatives of the Belgian Diversity Charter visited Estonia, with a particular interest in how Estonian employers approach age diversity. The visitors took home practical ideas and experiences from meetings hosted by Nordea, Swedbank, the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner. The exchange will continue in the other direction: in September, representatives of the Estonian Diversity Charter will have the chance to travel to Brussels and see how the Belgian charter works in practice.
The month’s centrepiece was the conference «Who gets a seat at the table?", co-organised with Swedbank on 13 May. Entrepreneurs, experts and public officials took the stage, and the programme made room for stories from a range of communities – disabled people; women facing sexism, stereotypes and the weight of care responsibilities at home; older people; and men’s view of their place in today’s labor market. An unusual degree of consensus emerged from their talks: the successful Estonian employer of the future will be the one able to build a working environment that can include very different people.
Running throughout the month, an online quiz in Estonian, English and Russian on the many facets of diversity gave more than a thousand people the chance to test their knowledge of human rights and inclusion in a playful way. Among its facts: the first coin in the Bank of Estonia’s commemorative series dedicated to remarkable Estonian women was made in honour of Lilli Suburg – writer, journalist, school principal and educator, founder and editor-in-chief of Linda, the first Estonian magazine for women, and one of the first champions of women’s rights in Estonia.
Diversity Month was never the work of a single organisation. Across Estonia, companies, public institutions and libraries marked the month in their own ways, from book exhibitions and panel discussions to internal events celebrating the cultures, languages and experiences within their teams. And while diversity, equity and inclusion have met with backlash in some parts of the world, this year’s Diversity Month – in Estonia and across the EU – showed that Europe still lives up to its motto, United in Diversity. Together, these many initiatives, large and small, are proof that we truly are.
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