A time for reflection

28-10-2022

Andrea Brewster

A time for reflection

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Seven years after founding IP Inclusive, Andrea Brewster offers insights on the organisation’s remarkable journey and its impact on the sector.

In 2015, in the early days of IP Inclusive, I gave a talk to IP professionals that yielded an illuminating response. Why all the fuss about diversity? they asked. Where is the problem?

If there were too few women or people of colour in the IP professions, it was not through any fault of the incumbents. IP professionals were ethical people who recruited on merit (how often I hear that one!) and knew no bias. They had some women on their staff. They had a Black person once. The women and the Black person were expected to pull their weight like everyone else; there was no discrimination; there were no complaints.

Where is the problem?


IP Inclusive, Andrea Brewster, D&I, people of colour, CIPA, BAME, LGBTQ+, unconscious bias, COVID-19, Black Lives Matter

WIPR