[edu-team] Diversity Letter
Margaret Wasserman <mrw@lilacglade.org> Tue, 05 March 2013 14:33 UTC
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From: Margaret Wasserman <mrw@lilacglade.org>
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Date: Tue, 05 Mar 2013 09:33:50 -0500
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Subject: [edu-team] Diversity Letter
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[This message is bcc:ed to a couple of small lists. Sorry for any duplicates.] A number of us have written an open letter to the I* (below) which I will be sending out (to the IESG, IAB, IAOC, ISOC Board and ietf@ietf.org) this evening. If you concerned about the lack of diversity in the IETF leadership and would like your name to be included in the alphabetical list of people who have signed this letter, please let me know. Margaret ** An Open Letter to the IESG, the IAB, the IAOC and the ISOC Board ** Dear Members of the IETF Leadership, We would like to call your attention to an issue that weakens the IETF's decision-making process and calls into question the legitimacy of the IETF as an International Standards Development Organization: the lack of diversity of the IETF leadership. In addition to the moral and social issues involved, diversity of leadership across several axes (race, geographic location, gender and corporate affiliation) is important for three practical reasons: - It is a well-established fact that diverse groups are smarter and make better decisions than less-diverse groups. - Lack of diversity in our leadership becomes a self-perpetuating problem, because people who are not represented in the IETF leadership are less likely to dedicate their time and effort to the IETF. - The lack of diversity in the IETF leadership undermines our credibility and challenges our legitimacy as an International Standards Development Organization. Unfortunately, despite a substantial increase in the number of IETF leadership positions (from 25 to 32) and increasingly diverse attendance at IETF meetings, the diversity of the IETF leadership has not improved. In fact, it seems to have dropped significantly over the past ten years. For example, ten years ago, in February of 2003, there were 25 members of the IETF leadership (12 IAB members and 13 IESG members). Of those 25 members, there was one East Asian member, there was one member from a country outside of North America or Europe, and there were four women. There were 23 companies represented in the IETF leadership (out of a total of 25 seats). In February of 2013, there were 32 members of the IETF leadership (12 IAB members, 15 IESG members and 5 IAOC members). Of those 32 members, all of them were white, all of them were from North America or Europe, and there was only one woman. There were only 19 companies represented (out of a total of 32 seats). It is important to the continued relevance and success of the IETF that we address this issue and eliminate whatever factors are contributing to the lack of diversity in our leadership. We believe that this is an important and urgent issue that requires your immediate attention. There are several steps that could be taken, in the short-term within our existing BCPs, to address this problem: - Each of the IETF leadership bodies (the IESG, IAB and IAOC) could update the qualifications that they submit to the Nominations Committee (through the IAD) to make it clear that the Nominations Committee should actively seek to increase the diversity of that body in terms of race, geographic location, gender and corporate affiliation. - Each of the confirming bodies (the ISOC Board for the IAB, the IAB for the IESG, and the IESG for the IAOC) could make a public statement at the beginning of each year's nominations process that they will not confirm a slate unless it contributes to increased diversity within the IETF leadership, or it is accompanied by a detailed explanation of what steps were taken to select a more diverse slate and why it was not possible to do so. - The ISOC President could continue to select Nominations Committee Chairs who understand the value of diversity and are committed to increasing the diversity of the IETF. - The Nominations Committee could be offered resources or training on the value of diversity, techniques to recruit a more diverse candidate pool, and/or information about how to minimize conflict-of-interest and personal bias in their selection process. We also feel that more substantial and longer-term changes may be needed to fully address this issue. Therefore, we request that the new IETF Chair assemble a design team (with diverse membership, of course) to determine the causes of this problem and to make suggestions for longer-term solutions to be considered by the IETF. We are committed to working within the IETF to make the changes that are needed to correct this serious issue. Best Regards, <Alphabetical list of signatures>
- [edu-team] Diversity Letter Margaret Wasserman