Marjolein Dennissen

80 The Herculean task of diversity networks Theorizing political intersectionality in the study of diversity networks helps to further unpack the identity politics of diversity networks and to understand how their political standpoints and actions promote their network’s interests. I highlighted how network’s identity politics shape which inequalities are and are not addressed within the networks. Collaboration between networks would entail prioritizing interests of a minority of the network members at the alleged expense of majority members. An example was the failed collaboration between the ethnic minority and the LGBT networks, because of the perceived limited appeal of an event to the non-LGBT ethnic minority members. This corroborates Crenshaw’s point that “identity politics tend to give privilege to the narratives of those in dominant categories (…) and the ways those narratives construct [the] primary agendas about what first to deal with” (1995, p. 5). Various scholars have criticized identity politics for its adverse effects in fostering exclusion (Bendl, Fleischmann & Walenta, 2008; Verloo, 2006; Yuval-Davis, 2006) and I also observe this in diversity networks. The politics of preserving privilege in diversity networks obscures the intersection of different forms of inequality and leaves the inequalities along other axes of difference intact. I contributed to the literature on diversity management practices by highlighting how business politics and identity politics play a role in the preservation of single category structures. Organizational inequalities cannot be dismantled separately because they entail multiple intersecting identities that mutually reinforce each other. This means that, as long as diversity networks remain single category- focused, they cannot incorporate structural and political intersectionality and do not work successfully to change the status quo in organizations. Implications for future research and diversity management practices In this chapter, I showed how the focus of diversity management practices on disadvantage and single categories has failed to capture the role of privilege in maintaining and (re) producing the status quo. The implications of structural and political intersectionality require new ways of studying and practicing diversity management. Diversity is not a single category issue and diversity is not only about disadvantage. Both scholars and practitioners have overlooked the political dimension of diversity management in organizations. Due to the focus on the business case, disadvantage and inequality have become the elephant in the room in many organizations. My analysis of single category diversity networks may serve as a starting point to challenge how diversity management is organized and to address the role of hitherto silenced privileges. Here, I offer some final reflections for future research and practice. In the light of the political nature of diversitymanagement, it is essential that practitioners gain an understanding of organizational processes of power and privilege. Addressing diversity as a business case might legitimize organizational diversity management but obscures the social justice side of diversity and in the long run inequalities persist. To (re)design diversity management practices that can take into account intersectionality and multiple inequalities,