She is a member of the steering committee of the National Action Plan to Combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance; she was a member of the South African Ministerial Committee on Diversity in Textbooks (2017-8);[9] and served as an expert witness to the South African Section 59 investigation inquiry into allegations of unfair Racial Discrimination and Procedural Unfairness by Medical Schemes (2000).

She was co-chair and chair of Anti-racism Network in Higher Education (ARNHE) for 10 years which organized symposia at universities across South Africa.

[4] In succeeding years, Steyn has continued to study how white South Africans shape their identities under circumstances in which they do not control the political levers of state power.

[7][13] The framework Steyn has developed, Critical Diversity Literacy (CDL), consists of ten criteria that characterize a sensibility open to differences, informed by a consciousness of power relations and willing to act towards more just societies.

The framework has informed interventions both in South Africa and in various international contexts including Switzerland, Germany, Australia, and various Southern African countries.