Government’s role in scaling equity
Governments should pursue tangible equity through diverse measures, including leveraging technology, human-centered approaches, inclusive policies, and strategic partnerships.
Josh Hjartarson
Shrupti Shah
Adithi Pandit
Amrita Datar
Glynis Rodrigues
Barriers and biases can sometimes crumble on their own, but more often than not, they require a nudge to come down. In the 1970s, a discrimination lawsuit compelled American symphony orchestras to conceal identities during auditions, with musicians playing behind a screen. The result: The proportion of women hired rose from 10% to 20% to more than 40%.1 The transformative shift would not have occurred without the deliberate intervention.2
Governments should fulfill their mandate to serve constituents equitably, ensuring outreach to those who need assistance, while compensating for historical and current biases. Leaders should make deliberate choices and commitments to challenge established patterns and drive better outcomes by examining and redressing the biases often embedded in systems.
Globally, governments are increasingly focusing on reducing historical disparities, improving access to resources, and implementing regulations that promote a more just and equitable future. Within a single year, 90 US federal agencies devised first-of-their-kind “equity action plans,” outlining strategies to overcome discrimination faced by underserved communities.3 Similarly, the Accessibility for New Zealanders Act 2022 aims to identify and lower accessibility barriers so that people with disabilities can have equal opportunity to achieve their goals and aspirations.4
As governments advance their efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion, leaders should focus on achieving tangible and significant results—measurable and meaningful outcomes with positive impacts on individuals, communities, and nations.
Breaking tradeoffs
Striving to achieve equity should be sustained with continuous efforts, representing a commitment that spans generations. And as anyone in government who’s tried to shift outcomes to be more equitable knows, the pursuit can pose considerable challenges. Implementing equity-focused policies at a time of tight budgets may shift resources between constituent groups, and no one is ever happy losing funding. Policies aimed at boosting one societal group may be viewed as disadvantageous for another. While the economic case for improving diversity and equity is well-documented,5 striking an effective balance and avoiding discontent involve transparent communication, a better understanding of societal needs, and partnerships with the broader ecosystem.
Convergence: A key to 10x improvement in equity
Governments have an array of tools to advance equity in transformational ways in the short and long term. Technological innovations can help make services more accessible and user-friendly, while human-centered processes can prioritize the needs and experiences of all constituents, including diverse populations. Inclusive policies can help address historical biases and tailor solutions to meet individual needs, while strategic collaborations can help create networks and cultivate an environment that fosters equitable outcomes.
The key is convergence and the combination of these multifaceted tools at government’s disposal. Government agencies are using a mix of tools to drive 10x equitable outcomes for all. Consider how combining different tools might have tangible impacts on people, workforce, and the vendor ecosystem:
- Human-machine teaming + digital reality scenario training tools + culture change = Overcome existing unconscious bias (read more below in the trend)
- Data-sharing platforms + digital infrastructure + outcome-based contracting = Promotes diversity
- Human-centered design + customer journey + policy reforms + public-private partnerships = More inclusive talent pool
Trend in action
Building an equitable future requires systemic change and continually adapting policies, regulations, and services, ensuring they remain balanced and accessible.
By focusing on three primary spheres of influence within government organizations—communities and society, vendor ecosystems, and the workforce—governments can advance equity within and outside their agencies.
- Communities and society. Equity in service delivery and access to health, housing, education, infrastructure, justice, and other public services.
- Vendor ecosystems. Equity around procurement, grants, and contract opportunities.
- Workforce. Equity in government workforce across dimensions such as hiring, training, and career growth or promotion opportunities.
Communities and society
Governments are making strides to provide more equitable and inclusive services to their constituents and assisting vulnerable populations. Access to essential services such as education, transportation, health care, and affordable housing should be considered fundamental. However, these services are often elusive for low-income populations, underserved communities, previously incarcerated individuals, racially and ethnically diverse groups, and others due to factors such as location, language barriers, and limited online access.
Additionally, confusing eligibility rules, cumbersome processes, and complicated forms can make it challenging for individuals seeking to apply for public benefit programs, such as those that offer food, social services, education, training, and housing services. Equitable access should include efforts to make these services accessible to every eligible constituent.
Prioritizing equity in policymaking. Government policymakers should look to design, implement, and evaluate policies through an equity lens. The United Kingdom’s Public Sector Equality Duty requires agencies to conduct equality impact assessments to understand the impact of new, existing, or replacement policies or practices in the public sector.6
Methods and approaches to user engagement have evolved in service delivery design, delivery, and evaluation, with leading organizations converging on coproduction to enhance equity and responsiveness. In the United Kingdom, the National Expert Citizens Group connects those with lived experiences in areas such as homelessness, mental illness, addiction, domestic abuse, incarceration, neurodiversity, and poverty with parliamentary committees, government departments, and decision-makers; agencies consult the group on national policies and programs.7
Countries have various laws and processes to break down historical barriers people face. Take individuals with criminal records, for instance: Some US states permit individuals to seal or clear their records after a certain crime-free period, but due to the inconvenient and complex nature of the process, only a fraction of eligible individuals take advantage of it.8 Michigan, however, has made its process free and simple by automating expungement of criminal records for over a million residents in 2023.9 Other states are following suit: This year, New York is set to introduce an act to automatically seal records to provide equitable second chances to those reentering society.10
Advancing equity through better digital services. Government agencies are taking steps to simplify online portals and develop more dynamic and user-friendly interfaces. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has appointed a new position, chief IT accessibility officer, a role responsible for improving the accessibility of the state’s digital services. “This role is especially meaningful for me since working toward accessibility for everyone has been a driving passion of mine as a person with a disability,” asserts Ashley Bloom, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ chief IT accessibility officer.11
Governments are also striving to enable equitable digital access by adopting new tools and collaborating with different partners. A free online tool helps new parents and caregivers in New York State determine whether they are eligible for paid family leave and how to apply for it. “You can use technology to close the equality gap ... it can make the world a little bit better,” states Reshma Saujani, founder of the nonprofit Moms First, who also built this app.12
By building the supporting digital infrastructure (see “Building more equitable and inclusive government services and programs through digital identity”) so no one is left behind, governments can help boost equity and inclusion. One of the benefits of enhanced digital self-serve capabilities is the enhanced capability to divert more intensive supports to higher-need clients, which may improve access for underserved clients.
In some cases, the path to advancing equity begins with examining how different types of constituents interact with agency systems, whether onscreen or on paper, and exploring where unseen barriers might be hindering people from using services to which they are entitled. Other times, agencies should look to sensitize and train staff to be more mindful of diversity and equity–related issues; unconscious bias can cause unintended consequences and affect service quality and overall agency mission outcomes.
Addressing unconscious bias and profiling in policing. Bias makes police work less effective, corrupts data systems, and reduces both public trust and community willingness to cooperate with law enforcement.13 To overcome unconscious bias and ethnic profiling, the Dutch national police force provides officers virtual reality (VR) training involving immersion in scenarios such as mass street protests.14 The officers are asked to engage with VR citizens to detect criminal activities. While early results showed that officers often act based on their own biases, mistrust, or ethnic background, training exercises in this immersive environment have generated measurable results.15 More than 10,000 police officers in Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands have completed training to help them gain knowledge, become more resilient, and promote quality police stops while avoiding ethnic profiling.16
Canada is also actively working on building strong connections between the police and the community. With a focus on helping officers recognize and overcome biases, the Longueuil police force offers a five-week intensive, immersive training program, in which officers—without their uniforms and firearms—engage with community members at schools, community centers, places of worship, and even homes. This approach gives officers a chance to bond with individuals from various cultures, community groups, and families within their jurisdictions.17 If users and constituents are involved in the design or delivery of services, agencies may be more likely to identify and weed out bias.
Increasing accessibility. Leaders increasingly recognize that individuals have varying needs and experience systems and services in different ways; one in six people worldwide experience significant disabilities and often face multiple challenges while accessing government services.18 Many agencies are now prioritizing the transformation of their programs to deliver more inclusive and equitable services by designing solutions tailored for specific needs.
Accessible transportation can be particularly important for expanding social and economic opportunities, but it can pose challenges for specific groups, such as people with developmental disabilities.19 Agencies worldwide are leveraging smartphone apps and other technologies to make public transit more accessible for people reliant on these services.20
To make air travel more accessible to people with disabilities, several US airports provide multisensory rooms—comforting spaces, with soothing colors and calming music, where families can relax before boarding.21 Pittsburgh International Airport has a room fashioned like an airplane cabin with overhead compartments, windows, chairs, and trays for kids and adults to get used to sitting on a plane.22 Airports in Canada are taking an additional step forward by offering pretravel “rehearsals” for children with disabilities to familiarize them with airports and planes. In April 2023, the Aéroports de Montreal Premium Kids program had 200 participants who experienced the entire airport journey, from arrival at the parking lot, checking in, and going through security, to boarding the airplane and listening to in-flight safety instructions.23
Vendor ecosystems
Government agencies are increasingly making deliberate efforts to engage a more diverse range of vendors in government procurement. Research suggests that an inclusive procurement strategy not only widens the supplier base but also boosts supplier competition, which can help increase quality, lower costs, and support the development of more agile and resilient supply chains.24 Additionally, better community representation in vendor ecosystems can bolster trust in government agencies.25
In a previous study, we examined the subcontracting relationships of the 12 largest defense contractors in Huntsville, Alabama, and found that while minority-owned companies made up 29% of businesses in the sample (on par with 27% of all Huntsville businesses being minority-owned), they received only 8% of all subcontracts and 4% of all subcontracting dollars awarded.26
Increasing diversity in contracting. The US government is pushing to increase contract spending on small, disadvantaged businesses by 50% in the next five years. In May 2023, the White House and General Services Administration launched two tools to help connect government buyers with diverse vendors.27 The Governmentwide Procurement Equity tool allows government agencies to identify small businesses, vendors that meet specific socioeconomic categories, and those new to the government market.28 Further, the Supplier Base Dashboard is accessible to both vendors and the public to help track and analyze critical information such as the number of vendors in business with an agency, their size, socioeconomic status, and whether they are new or established in the marketplace.29 “By providing our federal partners with more information when they make procurement decisions, we’re better able to set ourselves up to achieve our contracting goals and create more equity in the marketplace for everyone,” says GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan.30
Specifically, these tools aim to advance access to procurement for women-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and small businesses in historically underutilized business zones.31
Promoting gender-inclusive procurement. To promote gender-inclusive economic growth in India, the Government e-Marketplace, a digital platform for government procurement, launched Womaniya, a unique program for women entrepreneurs to sell directly to government buyers.32 More than 140,000 women-run small enterprises are registered on Womaniya and have completed orders worth a total of over US$2.5 million.33
Similarly, the Western Australia government added a gender-equality clause in its public procurement process as part of a 12-month pilot: Suppliers applying for government contracts must prove compliance with the clause. “This initiative will use the purchasing power of the state government to ensure companies are playing their part to address gender inequality in the workplace,” says Women’s Interests Minister Simone McGurk.34 The pilot advanced gender equality with a compliance rate of above 90% among large suppliers.35
Agencies should work to understand the barriers to entry for target businesses and gather feedback from them to shape how to best support and engage with those businesses in the future.36
Workforce
Government leaders are also working to address inequities in their own organizations. As of 2022, every functioning parliament in the world has women representation; in 2023, women held 26.7% of legislative seats around the world, up from 15.3% two decades earlier.37 Gender diversity stretches to employment as well: The proportion of women in Japan’s national civil service reached a record high of 38.7% in 2022–23.38 Japan plans to launch a website visualizing the wage gap between male and female employees working in the central and local government. By making this data public, the government aims to reduce the gap and boost female employment.39
Over the last few years, the United States has also seen increased representation of LGBTQIA+ communities in public office, which rose by 13.6% between June 2022 and May 2023. Similarly, elected officials who were racially and ethnically diverse rose roughly 23% in 2023.40
Increasing workforce diversity. A diverse workforce can help improve decision-making, engagement, and innovation, bringing to the table unique opinions and perspectives on critical issues. Social Security Scotland aims to enhance workforce diversity by hiring people with disabilities as client advisers to assist applicants in understanding the benefits they can access. The agency established a team that collaborates with organizations supporting disabled individuals to gather input on accessibility and application formats, improving the recruitment process. For a 2018 job hiring, the team promoted job opportunities and highlighted, through outreach, that applicants would receive support throughout the hiring process; it reached out to candidates who identified as having a disability and were contacted for an interview to understand whether they needed additional support or other adjustments to ensure a fair process. The agency also removed degree criteria for entry and replaced it with tests of candidates’ literacy and numeracy.41
Widening access to public sector jobs by focusing on skills. In the United States, degree requirements for government jobs can exclude workers without college degrees, who make up the majority of American labor force. Skills-based hiring can provide more access for those who are “skilled through alternative routes” such as technology boot camps, community colleges, or prior work experience, and allow them to work in the public sector. Federal agencies, as well as 14 US states (and counting), have taken steps to move toward skills-based hiring practices to expand the talent pool for public sector jobs.42 The state of Maryland loosened requirements for formal education in more than half of its 38,000 roles, helping state agencies grow the talent pool in a tight labor market, with the goal of “leaving no skilled worker behind.”43 There are early signs of success, with a 41% increase in state government hires without a degree and a 14% increase in the number of state employees hired overall.44
My take
Building more equitable and inclusive government services and programs through digital identity
Dr. Pramod Varma, former chief architect of Aadhaar and India Stack, and chief technology officer, EkStep Foundation45
In a country of over a billion people, less than half the population held bank accounts in 2011. By 2017, we had brought 80% of the population into the formal banking system. A milestone that could have taken five decades to accomplish was reached in less than one decade. Multiple factors contributed to laying the foundation for an inclusive and digital future for India.46
The first building block was Aadhaar, a unique digital identity program launched in 2009. The 12-digit identification number authenticates an individual’s identity and has been instrumental in fostering equitable and inclusive growth in the country. Today, it is the largest biometric identity program in the world, with 1.39 billion Indians enrolled in the program having about 1.8 billion authentications every month.47
Given the know-your-customer requirements for banks, identity was a key first step in improving financial equity, but it was not the only step. Supportive government policies such as the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana led to the universal spread of bank accounts in the country, with about 500 million new bank accounts opened under this scheme.48 With bank accounts in place, India’s digital payment infrastructure allowed for payments to be made and received instantly between the government, businesses, and people. For those with no device of their own, the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System helped Indians in the remotest of areas with equitable access to banking and financial services. This system enabled doorstep banking services through micro-ATMs, which helped scale financial inclusion efforts. As of July 2023, more than 17.52 billion transactions were carried out through the system.49
In 2013, India launched Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to transfer cash benefits from different schemes directly into Aadhaar-linked bank accounts more efficiently. The COVID-19 pandemic was the first big test for us when the central government decided to use DBT to send money directly to these accounts. The Aadhaar technology ecosystem and underlying digital public infrastructure ensured such large transactions were carried out seamlessly in the back end and the government was able to transfer US$3.9 billion to 318 million beneficiaries during COVID-19.50 Today, India runs the world’s largest DBT program.51
Besides financial inclusion, Aadhaar unlocks a range of public and private services for citizens and ensures everyone has the opportunity to access government services and benefits. Over 1,700 state and central government programs rely on Aadhaar to deliver government benefits and services.52
Take for instance the cooking gas subsidy, which is also the world’s largest cash transfer program.53 The government pays a liquefied petroleum gas subsidy through DBT to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, streamlining the subsidy transfer process and making it easier, hassle-free, and more targeted. It ensures that the benefits reach the intended recipients efficiently. Aadhaar infrastructure has also been embedded into various other government services, improving the quality of life for the poor and marginalized.
So, what’s the secret behind India’s digital public infrastructure success? It’s minimal design simplicity and interoperability model. India’s story is an example of how the coordinated efforts of a well-designed system can support a country’s diverse needs and truly transform the lives of a billion-plus people.
What the 10x future holds
- Equitable outcomes as a core component of policy formulation: This helps address historic barriers and prevent their perpetuation. Policies and laws should be updated to reflect changing circumstances and individual needs, especially in cases in which existing ones pose barriers to access.
- Simplified access to government services: Governments are improving access to services by making it easier to navigate the systems, reducing complexity, and cutting red tape. US government’s FAFSA Simplification Act overhauled the federal financial aid process. Today, with process improvements and technology adoption, college-bound students can apply online for financial aid via a 10-minute digital interaction.54
- Personalized programs for different groups: Advances in digital technology enable agencies to tailor services to constituents’ diverse needs.55 Singapore’s LifeSG app connects more than 40 government services designed to be more accessible to its aging population, with translation features in four official languages and a module to help seniors stay active, healthy, and socially connected.56
- Diverse talent pipelines for the future: By reevaluating degree requirements, adopting flexible work arrangements to break down geographic barriers for certain jobs, and revisiting hiring practices and processes, governments are working to build more diverse workforces.
- Configuring benefit portals to update constituent records automatically: These portals reflect current life events, reducing the need for multiple user inputs. Emerging digital technologies are expected to play a role in automatically applying, verifying eligibility criteria, and expediting the approval process.
Steps governments can take now
- Apply technology and human-centered design to streamline processes: Governments can simplify the benefits process by building dynamic and user-friendly interfaces for online portals that reflect human-centered design principles.57 At the same time, they should align services with intensity of needs through mechanisms to prioritize those requiring urgent assistance.
- Codesign and coproduce services and solutions: In the process of designing and delivering programs and services, agencies should include underserved communities and racially and ethnically diverse groups, as well as those with diverse lived experiences. Tracking and measuring the impact of policies and programs designed to advance equity can help inform future decisions and policies.
- Make deliberate efforts to build a more diverse talent pipeline: Agencies should work to attract young talent from diverse backgrounds, mentoring individuals from systemically marginalized communities and women candidates and using data to track diversity and inclusion efforts.