Re: [Diversity] IETF Diversity Update

[SM <[e-mail]>]

Hi Fernando, Vinayak, Alejandro,
At 21:54 16-12-2015, Fernando Gont wrote:
>Not sure what you mean by "has less value"...

 From the blog article:

   "The 2013 NomCom appointed 3 women to the IESG and 1 to the IAB. The
    2014 NomCom added one more woman to each of those leadership groups
    as well, matching (at least for the IESG) a prior high point of 4/15
    women in the IESG."

The issue which led to the diversity debate was not about the number 
of women who were WG Secretaries or WG Chairs.  It was about the 
number of women who are appointed to the IESG.  I'll use myself as an 
example.  In terms of diversity, and assuming that I am considered as 
part of a minority group, it does not make much of a difference if I 
am WG Secretary or WG Chair as it is the Area Director position which 
is viewed as important.

>Not sure I understand the question.
>
>If it is "for companies/agencies, what is of more value? authoring
>documents or a management position?", then the answer would be "it
>depends on the company/agency, and varies a lot from one to another".
>
>If the question is what *I* think i of more value, then I'd say that
>it's similar as asking "what's of more value for a car? the sparks, the
>fuel, or the carburetor?". i.e., unless all parts work properly, the car
>doesn't work, or you get suboptimal performace, or the car eventually
>breaks, etc...

I'll use an RFC as an example as it is clearer than the above 
analogy.  The author of the RFC is in Latin America.  The person 
works for Huawei Technologies.  In my opinion, the company found it 
useful [1] to spend money on that IETF standardisation work.  The 
company might also find it useful to spend money to fund an Area 
Director as "ADs are also entitled to select and directly manage the 
working group chairs" [1].  Here's another example [2]: "As executive 
director, she will also spearhead efforts to streamline and broaden 
communication with groups ...".

In a message [3] on this thread, there was the following comment:

   "FWIW, that doesn't replicate at all in developing countries."

In my opinion, the above means that it is not possible to get money 
from research programs in Latin America to do standardisation 
work.  In another message [4], there was the following comment about funding:

   "Harder to come by in developing countries but I have seen
    this changing slowly but surely. ISOC and other local organizations
    are doing a good job here. I can see the efforts of these helping."

In my opinion, that means that it is not useful to change what is 
being done for people in developing countries as there are already 
organizations doing a good job.

Regards,
-sm

1. http://pr.huawei.com/en/news/hw-071873-ad-iab-ietf.htm
2. http://www.polycom.com/company/news/press-releases/2012/20120312.html
3. http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/diversity/current/msg00695.html
4. http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/diversity/current/msg00716.html