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Workforce diversity as a concept is of course a very positive and widespread concept not only in our workplaces but in society in general. The problem is that it is too widespread a concept and will always leave someone feeling as though they are not included or covered by the umbrella of its protection.

As a Caucasian female working in the information technology arena for over 30 years I have certainly felt that the umbrella failed to cover me on many occasions; but also felt there was nowhere to turn to request the umbrella be expanded or another umbrella be provided.

So many changes were made to protect women in the workforce - I was no longer allowed to be asked during the interview process whether or not I had children or planned to; this prevented discrimination against mommies; no one could discriminate against me because I was female; they could not ask my sexual orientation; but it never stopped the commentary on how very odd it was to see a woman with my background in computer and electronic hardware. It also never prevented the "Good Old Boy" club that existed (and frequently still exists) within the computer hardware and networking environment. It certainly never convinced the customers of the companies I worked for that I could repair their systems with the same expertise as my male counterparts. I believe the worst situation was when I went out on a field call to repair a ladies' system and "she" refused service; preferring to wait 2 weeks for a male technician to be available because she had never seen a woman fix a computer and didn't quite trust me. Now that has been a few years and I had a very loyal boss who backed me wonderfully, but unfortunately you might be surprised how often things like this happen.

As recently as 3 years ago I left a large corporation because of "the Good Old Boys". I was very well paid by this company who had acquired me with the purchase of the company who hired me, but once on board with them, I had nothing to do. I was not trusted by these gentlemen to touch any equipment. This after having managed the entire IT department they had purchased. But once we merged everything, I was without duties. They were happy to continue paying me, but I have these silly ethics about earning my pay.

This is just one small example. Whether it is a female, someone of color, a Native American, an Asian or even a single white male; there will always be some situation in which we feel that we do not fit in

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