This paper presents a lecture given at the 17th Annual Lecture of the Association of University Administrators (AUA). The subject of the lecture is equality and diversity in higher education (HE) leadership, or possibly the absence of equality and diversity. The author focuses on what can be done to ensure that capable women enter HE leadership positions. Research referencing the gap between UK white undergraduates and black and minority ethnic (BME) students in degree achievement--as well as satisfaction levels--is discussed as a mirror of the disparity in the workplace in regard to gender equality in academic staffing in the UK. Research shows that people who felt they had been disadvantaged in their own careers by bias, conscious or not, were not necessarily actively promoting equality and diversity in their own workplaces. The speaker suggests that organisations keep equality and diversity on the agenda--particularly for professional development--in order to make a good contribution to overcoming discrimination.