[diversity] Experiences from the Django community

On 14 Jul 2017, at 05:11, Malcolm Hutty <malcolm at linx.net> wrote:
> I wanted to address this point separately, because it cuts to the core
> of one of the discussions we are having, and because Erik is not the
> only participant to have spoken against the principle of equality.
> 
> If we adopt the idea of non-discrimination, equal treatment and respect
> for the individual as a participant as our organising principle, this
> will indeed leave certain approaches to diversity based on bias and
> preference "dead in the water". I don't think we should be ashamed of
> that; we should embrace it. [snip]

I strongly disagree with this part. I feel this graphic explains my
position well: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiUx_GlXEAQYIFg.jpg

Not everyone is equal when they come into the community. Not everyone has
had the same opportunities, has the same costs, the same health, the same
freedoms. These issues are institutional and endemic in our wider society.
And if inside the community we insist on treat everyone the same, it means
that the  outcome is still drastically unfair, and we reinforce bias,
rather than countering it.

Mind you, I am not in favour of e.g. a hard quota in speaker selection.
However, as an example, I have often seen financial aid programs where 
priority is given to people from underrepresented and/or marginalised 
groups, which makes sense to me, as there are (on average) financial 
consequences of being part of such a group, limiting the ability to 
participate.

Especially in RIPE meetings, as even speakers have to pay for a full
ticket and their own travel. This biases speaker selection to people who
are better off financially and who have an easier time finding work, or
putting some pressure on their employer, amongst other things.

> 2. Survey of experiences and attitudes to existing behaviour
> [..]

I am not opposed to such a survey, but I would expect it to be heavily
biased towards a more positive image. I’m skeptic on how many people who
no longer participate would enter, especially those that left due to bad
experiences. Personally in those cases, I’d rather just leave it behind
and forget. In particular, I would be very reluctant to share those
experiences with that same community - and I see this with friends too.

As another example, I recently encountered sexist and queerphobic remarks 
at a conference which had a CoC, but this involved a conference organiser,
so I did not report. If there were this kind of survey, I would similarly
not have reported it. I warned my friends though.

In general, any kind of talking about any kind of negative experience 
comes with risk. So the question is always: how much will I improve things
by talking about this, how much do I care, and is that worth the risk?

> 3. Regional inclusion: venue policy [..]

This is a particularly difficult issue, as different locations come with
different benefits and issues for different people. For some people
Schengen visa are hard to obtain. For me, any travel to the Middle East
or Russia would be most unwise. This is the same in the Django/Python
community, which is a reason for having conferences in almost every
region. There is no single location that works great for everyone.

> - do we consider needs of wheelchair users/other disabilities?
> sufficiently consistently to be relied upon?

A good start may be an accessibility policy, with some suggestions here:
https://twitter.com/ellenfromnowon/status/846010218404306946

> - financial support?

Yes. Even a small program can help, especially for an event that requires 
even speakers to even pay for tickets.

> - while I think English is likely to need to remain the working
> language, is there more that can be done to assist those who don't speak
> it proficiently or who lack confidence?

Live transcription is a huge benefit already. Beyond that, I have no
immediate ideas.

> - would some potential participants benefit from more direct support in
> persuading their employers to authorise their attendance? (I know the
> ITU offers "letters of invitation"; is that a useful idea? How about
> "Dear boss, Your employee has asked to attend a RIPE meeting. But what
> do you get out of it?”)

This doesn’t apply to me personally, but I know a lot more conferences
do this, for example: https://2017.djangocon.us/why-djangocon-us/
I imagine the effort is small, and mostly one time, so this feels like
it’s worth it.

Erik