Hi AC

The NZ navy does have a diversity policy. It does not have, or support, diversity quotas, as the report you link to makes clear. So it is not a “reasonable assumption” that she was selected because of her gender. There is no evidence that Captain Yvonne Gray was selected other that on merit. She has more than 30 years’ experience in the NZ and UK navies.

This is NZ’s worst naval accident since WW2. We don’t know exactly why it happened, or if anyone was at fault. We do know that no-one was killed, because the captain made the right calls about when and how to abandon ship in very difficult circumstances. She has been widely applauded for saving more than 70 lives through his.

Since WW2 there have been 11 serious accidents in Australia’s navy in which lives were lost. So far as I can tell, in every case the vessels involved were captained by men. I wonder if the 80 people who died in our worst peacetime maritime disaster, the collision of HMAS Voyager and HMAS Melbourne in in 1964, would have fared better if the Voyager had been captained by Yvonne Gray not Duncan Stevens.

Let’s get all the facts before jumping to conclusions.

Let’s get all the facts before jumping to conclusions.
Rhian,
Get all the facts ? Via whom, the DEI crowd ?

Hi Rhian,
It doesn't need to be stated.
'increasing recruitment, retention and progression to senior ranks'

You can't artificially promote one sub group without it impacting another.
A truly equal policy should be 'we support both men and women, and promotions are given to the most highly qualified candidate'.

Any attempt to artificially modify this position will lead to a reduction in morale, cohesion and fighting effectiveness.

If what you want is a disunified armed forces where many hold inner animosity leading to a culture of infighting, then sure try to artificially promote certain sub-groups.
If you want your military to lose, why bother having one at all?

Hi AC

You say, “A truly equal policy should be 'we support both men and women, and promotions are given to the most highly qualified candidate’”.

For once, I am in full agreement with you. I too believe in meritocracy, and have serious reservations about many DEI policies. I strongly oppose quotas.

But when the system is weighted against some groups to the benefit of others, especially when it is for no good reason, it does not result in the best candidate getting the job. Conscious and unconscious bias are often the reason for this, and there can be others – racist and sexist cultures, social expectations, employment conditions and so on. If a workplace doesn’t have a demographic at all levels – senior, middling and junior – that is roughly representative of the population as a whole, then it can be useful to ask why. Sometimes there are good reasons, but it may be that something is preventing the best candidates getting the right jobs.

The vicious and unwarranted pile-one of internet fringe-dwellers attacking Yvonne Gray is an example of how bad DEI policies can actually fuel bigotry. Any woman in a senior role that has traditionally been male-dominated can be sneeringly dismissed as a “diversity pick”. Any difficult, controversial or mistaken decision she makes can be attributed to her being promoted above her competence in the name of DEI. And pathetic misogynist has-beens like Stuart Ballantyne apparently feel it justifies publishing seedy anecdotes about pregnant Pacific Islanders

Rhian,
It looks to me like you're one of the problems !

AC

“It looks to me like you're one of the problems”

If you mean by that what I think you mean, then I sincerely hope so.