John C Williams: Diversity and inclusion - we are not where we need to be Remarks by Mr John C Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the OPEN Finance Forum, New York City, 25 June 2019. * * * As prepared for delivery Good morning. I’m an economist, so I’m going to start with some numbers. The unemployment rate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people is nearly double the national average.1 And the unemployment rate specifically for transgender people is three times the national rate.2 As President of a Federal Reserve Bank, I am focused on two vital economic goals: maximum employment and stable prices for the U.S. economy. These statistics paint a clear picture of why conferences like this one are so important: We are not where we need to be. Before I go any further, I need to give the standard Fed disclaimer that the views I express today are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Open Market Committee or others in the Federal Reserve System. Let me say, as an ally, that it’s a genuine honor to be invited to open today’s Forum. This Pride Month marks 50 years since the Stonewall uprising. We’ve come a long way since the 1960s, but we still have far to go. It was also a great honor to be able to fly the Pride flag outside the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for the first time this June.
But, given that it is 50 years since Stonewall, it’s clear we have more catching up to do. And this is where we owe OPEN Finance a great debt of gratitude. OPEN Finance gives us the tools we need to assess how we’re doing, and where we need to make progress. With the support of OPEN Finance, and the dedication of the Open Network at the New York Fed, we’ve introduced a number of new policies and measures that drive our efforts to make the Bank the open and inclusive employer we aspire to be. I’d personally like to thank David Ignell and Gil Carroll, presidents of our Open Network, for their work moving us forward. These efforts are important because they send a message to LGBT employees and the organization as a whole about our values and culture. I’d like to share one specific example. We recently created the option to add gender pronouns to our official e-mail signatures. This is a part of an organization-wide effort to raise awareness around the use of pronouns. On its own, it may seem like a small change, but it sends a loud message that part of respecting one another is using the correct pronouns. This effort has been well received, and a big part of that is because it’s created spaces for conversations that just weren’t happening before. But policies can only go so far.