Aug 29
Anti-DEI Movement Continues With Ford Exiting LGBTQ+ Index
Emell Adolphus READ TIME: 1 MIN.
The mega car manufacturer Ford has become the latest company to call it quits on its relationship with the Human Rights Campaign.
As reported by Axios, the company confirmed that it is withdrawing from participating in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index in a statement to employees in which CEO Jim Farley said the company would also no longer participate in "best places to work" lists.
According to Farley, the company will still foster "an environment where all of us can do our best work anchored in respect and inclusion." However, the quality of that environment will be left up to internal interpretation.
Ford joins Lowes, Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniel's in backing out of the HRC index, seemingly amid pressures from right-wing voices that companies have gone too "woke."
More companies who have said that they are no longer adopting DEI programs include John Deere and Tractor Supply. A spokesperson for Jack Daniel's parent company Brown-Forman said it is evolving its approach to DEI as "the world has evolved."
"Our business has changed, and the legal and external landscape has shifted dramatically, particularly within the United States," said Elizabeth Conway in an email to Axios.
In HRC's 2023-2024 index, nearly 600 companies received a perfect score, including Apple, Amazon, AT&T, Bank of America, CVS, Disney, Ford, General Motors, Google, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, and Walmart.
HRC's VP of corporate citizenship and inclusive technology Eric Bloem declined to discuss how many companies have pulled out of the index.
"We're talking about a handful of businesses," he told Axios in an interview. "It's a fraction."
