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Abstract

Workplace equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) policies have become increasingly prominent across North American organizations in response to demographic change and growing attention to racial and gender inequality in employment. Despite the expansion of these initiatives, questions remain about whether such policies have produced meaningful changes in representation and opportunity within organizational hierarchies. This MA thesis examines whether workplace EDI initiatives have been effective in shaping racial and gender diversity across organizational positions and how employees perceive these changes. Drawing on insights from organizational sociology, the study integrates institutional theory, relational organizational perspectives, and racialized organization theory to examine how individual capital and formal diversity commitments interact with existing structures of organizational power. Empirically, the analysis combines national labour market benchmarks with original survey data from Canadian workers (N = 239) across public and private sectors. The study examines demographic representation across workplace environments and leadership positions, and analyzes employee attitudes toward equity-oriented hiring practices using vignette-based measures and regression analysis. The findings suggest that while workplaces exhibit increasing demographic diversity, representation remains uneven across organizational hierarchies. Leadership positions, particularly at the executive level remain disproportionately occupied by white men, especially in private sector organizations. At the same time, the results indicate greater gender diversity within supervisory and managerial roles, with white women appearing more prominently in these positions despite lower levels of overall workforce representation. Regression results further indicate that race and age are significant predictors of support for EDI policies, with Black respondents and younger workers expressing higher levels of support. These results suggest that while diversity initiatives may influence workplace representation and discourse, structural inequalities in organizational power remain persistent.