Boeing Becomes Latest Company to Scale Back DEI Initiatives
Boeing has joined the growing list of companies scaling back on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, dismantling its global DEI department under the direction of the company’s new executive. The decision follows a period of scrutiny over Boeing’s safety record, including a highly publicized incident earlier this year where a door panel blew off an Alaska Airlines plane midair—a plane that was reportedly scheduled for maintenance.
According to Bloomberg News, Boeing stated that DEI staff would be integrated into a broader human resources team focusing on talent and experience.
This restructuring comes after Sara Liang Bowen, Boeing’s vice president overseeing the DEI department, departed from the company earlier this week.
“The team achieved so much — sometimes imperfectly, never easily — and dreamed of doing much more still,” Bowen shared in a LinkedIn post. “It has been the privilege of my lifetime to lead Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Boeing company these past 5+ years. Our team strived every day to support the evolving brilliance and creativity of our workforce.”
Anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck claimed some influence over Boeing’s decision, noting in a post on X that he had warned Boeing’s new CEO and board chairman weeks earlier of his plans to scrutinize the company’s “woke” policies.
“Our campaigns are so effective that we’re getting some of the biggest corporations on earth to change their policies without me even posting a video first just from the fear they have of being the next company we expose,” Starbuck wrote, adding, “The landscape of corporate America is quickly shifting to sanity and neutrality. We are the trend now, not the anomaly.” Starbuck has previously highlighted DEI programs at companies like Toyota, Lowe’s, and Tractor Supply Co., which later scaled back their own DEI efforts.
In the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020, Boeing pledged to increase black employment by 20 percent by 2025, which raised concerns from some who felt that physical characteristics could be prioritized over merit or qualifications. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also been critical of Boeing’s DEI initiatives, particularly after the Alaska Airlines incident in January.
“Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety,” Musk posted earlier this year. In a separate post, Musk expressed his view that “people will die due to DEI.”
Following the news of the DEI department’s restructuring, Boeing reaffirmed its commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace, stating that it “remains committed to recruiting and retaining top talent and creating an inclusive work environment where every teammate around the world can perform at their best while supporting the company’s mission.”
