What is diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Overview

Most of us have heard the terms diversity, equity, and inclusion, but do we really know what they mean? To support you in your journey to create a more inclusive cricket environment we have brought together what the terms mean and their connection to cricket.

Diversity

A person is not diverse. Diversity is about the differences between people – their characteristics, attributes, backgrounds, lived experience, and perspectives they bring. It’s important to highlight that diversity isn’t always inherent - it can be acquired over time (e.g., parenting and caring responsibilities or language skills).

Diversity of thought and a variety of perspectives and experiences leads to increased creativity, innovation, and better decision-making at a strategic and operational level. It also leads to better success on the cricket pitch!

Ensure your community’s diverse voices are heard – ideally your committee/board reflects the community but in the meantime what other mechanisms can you use to ensure you are hearing from everyone? Check out our Understanding Your Members resource to learn how you could go about it.

Inclusion

Inclusion is when you create environment that enable everyone to participate together. It’s about pro-active behaviours, options and actions that make people from all backgrounds, ages and abilities feel that they belong.

Equity

Equity recognises not everyone begins at the same start line in life. Equity means creating fair access, opportunities, and equal possible outcomes for all.

Equity is different from equality. Equality is the assumption that everyone benefits from the same resources, supports and opportunities. Equity recognises that different groups face different barriers and therefore the support they need must be different too.

If we think about our cricket system, our junior team gear bags don’t only have size 6 bats. We have various sizes to accommodate the various needs and sizes of the players in the team.

Another example might be that players from diverse backgrounds have other equally important commitments during the week and cannot make every training. In some instances, teams enforce a ‘no train no play’ policy. However, using an equity approach and empathising with their situation, you could make allowances for them.