I have thoughts on this. Thoughts that are obviously biased in my experience as a white, cis, straight, middle class, boring male, but also one that tried (and IMO succeeded a little) in increasing diversity somewhat in a very white cis male dominated field...

I do think probability in those looking for a job in the field plays part of a role but that is a very shortsighted and limited way to look at things if the conversation ends there.

First you have to ask why that is. It’s illogical that a role like radio host or statistical analyst/writer must be white, male, etc. Usually it’s because there are barriers making that role less likely that person so they feel they should try. Demographics and other factors.

Barriers can be due to systemic racist/sexist/ageist/ableist/economic/etc reasons.
These barriers can compound with things like the imposter syndrome and other similar effects reducing the chance that someone overcomes these barriers externally and adds internal barriers.

Anyways I’m no expert on the details but there are barriers; barriers that shouldn’t exist.
We know diversity is a good thing. Ex: They say you should think outside of the box but tough to do when your war room all comes from similar backgrounds, environment, experiences, etc.

Again I’m no expert but I think I did an okay job at Hockey Graphs. So what should people like me do to help. It all stemmed from two things: listening and making an effort.

1) I asked people to give me Twitter handles for individuals from underrepresented demographics that did good work. I RT and followed every single suggestion. This was bigger deal than I’d expect. I discovered a ton of new and excellent voices. It gave me new perspectives.

2) I made an effort to diversify. I made a rule that >50% of new HG hires were from underrepresented demographics. And sometimes I had to go hunting. I had to ask and look for them. I had to overcome those barriers by taking the initiative. And this was huge because there was a

positive feedback and multiplicative effect. When people see others like them in the role the internal barriers start to drop. Also those I added had way better ideas and capabilities than I at improving diversity. Ex: Look at @asmae_toumi and the mentorship program.

I’m nothing great or special. I really have done very little but I did discover something from my experiences. I found out that as someone who comes from privilege and the over represented group how all it takes is to listen and not be passive and you can make things better.

So yes, you may not get many women, PoC, or other underrepresented people applying, but to stop the effort there is part of the problem. It takes a bit of effort but it really isn’t much work to do a lot of good.
Anyways that’s my 2c and take my experiences as just that.

Sorry this rant is a bit incoherent and I’m talking about an area I have little expertise in and only a bit of experience. I hope that it can somehow help others who are in similar positions to help make this a better place.
/fin