Barb Van Andel-Gaby Chairman of Heritage Foundation - Economy | Official Website
Today, The Heritage Foundation released a report titled "Is the State Department Using 'DEIA' to Discriminate Against Men?" The document examines the Biden administration's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) policies within the State Department. It suggests these policies may discriminate against Foreign Service Officers based on immutable characteristics. The findings indicate that women have a promotion advantage over men in all five occupational concentrations within the agency.
Simon Hankinson, a Senior Research Fellow at Heritage and former Foreign Service Officer who authored the report, stated: "The Administration’s radical DEIA agenda has all but dismantled equal opportunities and treatment within the State Department."
He further added: "This report exposes the administration’s pattern—under the guise of ‘equity’—of promoting women at higher rates than men, with no logical explanation other than preference based on sex alone. The agency’s current path opens the Department to legal action by employees. Such discrimination lawsuits have been filed in the past. Today’s findings urge corrective action to restore merit-based promotion before that happens again."
Victoria Coates, Vice President of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at Heritage, commented: "American women fought for generations for equal treatment of both sexes and all races in the Federal workplace. This is no time to abandon that core value and sanction discrimination against men. DEI has been a cancer undermining our Federal workforce across the government, and should be eradicated by the incoming administration—starting with the State Department."
The report highlights several key points:
In 2023, there was a promotion advantage for women in all five Foreign Service career tracks ranging from 3 percent for Economic officers to 13 percent for Management officers. Specifically, nearly one in three women were promoted compared to fewer than one in five men among Management officers.
Between 2020 and 2022, women were promoted at higher rates than men across most specialties and grades within the Foreign Service—a trend observed over two decades.
While it is possible that women are better performers on average across career tracks over many years, it is considered more plausible that grading officers are trained or incentivized to focus on historical bias and advance “equity”—a preference emphasized during Biden-Harris Administration.
President Joe Biden prioritized DEIA upon taking office by issuing an Executive Order on "Advancing Racial Equity" followed by another order requiring each agency to establish chief diversity officer positions while increasing diversity efforts within federal employment pipelines.
To prevent bias during promotions processes urgently requires removing name/sex information from candidate files ensuring fair comparisons solely based upon job performance criteria.