Though the concept of diversity is most frequently discussed in terms of race or ethnicity, I have learned that it also encompasses many other identities, such as gender identification, age, ability, and others. The demographics of Owensboro show little diversity when only race is considered—the population is approximately 82% white. This particular definition has made equitable representation among members a challenge for the Junior League, whose membership currently includes one Latina woman in the predominantly white organization. However, when we consider the multitude of ways in which diversity is truly manifest in the group, we realize that we do represent many different identities in terms of age, ability, sexual orientation, marital status, parenthood, employment status, and others. When a few Junior League board members attended a regional diversity conference at the local college a year ago, we learned how to respond to this knowledge.

“Diversity is a fact. Equity is a choice. Inclusion is an action. Belonging is an outcome” (Emam, 2023). This quote can be found in many places. Prior to diversity the conference, as a league, we had established a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) committee, but we weren’t equipped to devise and implement plans on our own. The conference was extremely edifying, and it taught us how diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are related as a process. The main idea that we learned was that equity and inclusion are aspects that we as a league could control, and if we did them well then a feeling of belonging among our members would follow. The definition that Shore and colleagues (2011) offered for inclusion gave me a great deal of clarity on this: inclusion is “the degree to which an employee perceives that he or she is an esteemed member of the work group through experiencing treatment that satisfies his or her needs for belongingness and uniqueness” (p. 1265, as cited in Northouse, 2022). As of the current year, we have lifted all requirements for Junior League members—no more mandatory meeting attendance or minimum community service hours. One of the many reasons for making this change was to accommodate women who wanted to participate in the Junior League but their work hours precluded them from fulfilling requirements. Since this is no longer a concern, they can be a part of the league and join when they are available. In addition to this, the league now holds meetings and events at a variety of dates and times to make them more accessible, in an effort to offer more options to members with varying schedules. This makes the Junior League a more equitable organization for women who want to take part.

One change that we have made is moving our meeting locations. Recently we have been holding meetings on the second floor of a local restaurant. The arrangement was nice because there was no charge to use the large group space, and members had the option of ordering food or beverages during the meeting. However, several of our members pointed out that the room is located on the second floor of a building with no elevator, making it not ADA accessible and thus putting a limitation on differently abled women who might otherwise like to join the league. Further, the restaurant was a high-end dining establishment, which gave an air of elitism to the Junior League, which was quite off-putting to potential members. In response, we began reaching out to our nonprofit partners and holding meetings at events at places like the Girls, Inc., campus or the childcare center for economically challenged families. This change has been very well received by our membership and by the community. Simply moving the locations of our meetings created a greater sense of psychological safety for women of different abilities or income levels.

Honoring diversity and making dedicated efforts toward equity help increase antecedent conditions for inclusivity (Northouse, 2022). The steps the Junior League has taken show the public that our league is actively making choices to make membership more accessible. It also shows that our leadership support a diverse organization. We addressed diversity in member age by removing the long-standing barrier of “aging out” of the league at 40 years old. Many women in the past had not been able to serve long because of this rule, and as a consequence most of our active members were young and inexperienced with few people remaining to train them. We removed this barrier by opening up membership to all women over age 21. Immediately, we had a great response and gained a few new members in their 50s. One previous member in her 60s reactivated and is now on the board working to involve past members more in the league’s current work. Removing the age limit on membership has brought to the league members who have more life and leadership experience and who are excited to be training younger women to lead in similar ways.

Finally, over the past few years we have been letting our members know that they are welcome to bring their kids with them to any league events. Our current leadership only learned through talking with long-standing members that kids have not always been welcome at league functions. In response, our leadership has been much more vocal about the fact that children are welcome, and if any member was concerned about not being able to leave her kids with someone then she should bring them along with her. We often have kids at our meetings, and they play together or do their own activities. This shows our members that we truly care about them and want them to be able to participate, and we want to model leadership for our kids.

In their article in Harvard Business Review, Zheng and colleagues (2023) discussed several traits that make an inclusive leader, such as redefining rules instead of following blindly: “The exemplars of inclusive leadership were not afraid to challenge well-established practices that had outlived their relevance” (para. 7). The Junior League’s leadership did exactly this after talking with and receiving feedback from current and former members about the challenges of being part of the league. In efforts to be more welcoming and create a safe social environment for all women, we discarded many outdated regulations, which has resulted in new interest in league membership. Zheng et al. also assert that inclusive leaders make consistent efforts toward active learning and implementation of new ideas to support diversity and inclusion. As soon as we understand our natural biases as human then we can increase our awareness of inquiries and challenge the way things have been done in the past. To this end, the Junior League now advertises the diversity conference information to the membership and ensures that at least two board members attend. At the next league meeting following the conference, any members who attended are asked to share what they learned so that we may continue to educate ourselves and actively employ equity and inclusion behaviors and structures.

The Junior League has seen tremendous and immediate benefits from these efforts toward inclusion. Including and valuing our older members has expanded our worldview significantly. Changing our locations has connected us with many more areas of our community. Annual attendance at the diversity conference keeps us mindful of the many types of diversity and actively working to create a culture of inclusivity. We are benefiting from the creativity of our expanded membership (Northouse, 2022, Zheng et al., 2023). Our community is seeing the league as a more welcoming environment, offering a sense of belonging for all involved.