‘A reflection of the nation’: Joe Biden’s transition team is majority women and employs many people of colour

In June Mr Biden promised that his administration is ‘going to look like America’

Joe Biden is making good on his promise to represent all of America, hiring a transition team more diverse than any before him.

Women make up the majority of his team, and his campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon, 44, is only the second woman to have managed a winning presidential campaign, after Kellyanne Conway served in that role for the final three months Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Fifty two per cent of his transition team are women, and 46 per cent are people of colour, according to new diversity data of the transition team provided to CNN.

The diversity is not just limited to lower-ranking staff members: 41 per cent of the senior staff are people of colour, and 53 per cent of the senior staff are women.

He has only announced one senior position so far - Ron Klain, who will serve as his chief of staff. But he is expected to appoint many women to his Cabinet, with Michele Flournoy the current favourite to be named secretary of defense. If she is appointed she will be the first woman to head the Pentagon.

Last week, the transition team announced its agency review teams - despite the General Services Administration not yet recognising Mr Biden as the winner of the election, and therefore still blocking his access to funds and information.  

The teams consist of roughly 500 people.  

About 40 per cent of the team "represent communities historically underrepresented in the federal government," a transition official said, which includes people of colour, individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities.

Ted Kaufman, co-chair of the Biden-Harris transition team, said that the diversity was very deliberate.

"For months, the Biden-Harris transition has laid the groundwork for a Biden-Harris administration, and at the core of that work is an unrelenting commitment to diversity," he said.  

"As we continue working full-speed ahead to Inauguration, our diverse group of leaders and staff are reflective of America - upholding President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris' belief that through diverse voices we can develop and implement a policy vision to tackle our nation's toughest challenges."

Mr Biden has repeatedly promised that ensuring diversity in his administration and his Cabinet will be a top priority.

"My administration's going to look like America, not just my staff, the administration from the vice president straight down through Cabinet members to major players within the White House, and the court," he said in June.  

"It's going to be a reflection of who we are as a nation."

His words echo that of Canada's prime minister, who was asked why he had appointed a Cabinet with an equal number of men and women.

"Because it’s 2015," he replied.