Diversity Goals

[drnikki]

https://drupal-diversity.gitbooks.io/drupal-organizer-resources/content/manuscript/diversity-goals/diversity-goals.html

We want to help organizers set goals for the event they are planning, as well as shape their thinking about the change they can implement over several events.

This may be a good time to discuss whether or not diversity quotas work and provide links to discussions about that.

[bradleyfields]

Reluctant to endorse the quota-first systems I’ve seen or read about. Reasons:

1. Don’t account for inclusion. For example, if representation were based on demographics, a group of people could be overrepresented (in terms of numbers in that demo) and still not feel included/welcome because of organization structure, power imbalances, etc.
2. Exclude people who don’t identify in the quota system’s spectrum. Quota categories are what the people who use them see as important. That’s a tactic with a high risk for ignoring people who don’t identify with those groups.
3. Make identity performative. People have to somehow display, present, or announce their identity in such a way that satisfies a quota to qualify for it.
4. The math gets messy. Are the quotas a representation of the immediate demographics (where an event is located)? Or a representation of what the global community wants to be? Or calculated relative to size of event staff? All or a mix of the above? (To be clear: difficulty, just generally, isn’t a reason not to try. I’m mentioning the specific difficulty of “calculating inclusion via quotas” as math that hasn’t seemed to work.)

The better approach may be to:

• Demonstrate an openness to diversity (e.g., expand exposure/reach)
• Demonstrate a commitment to inclusion (e.g., code of conduct enforcement; be affordable)
• Use quotas only, if ever, in extreme circumstances to supplement the above strategies

If we want, for example, more people who rely on wheelchairs at our events, we could have a quota for wheelchair-dependent accessibility. Or we could choose accessible venues, communicate about how and why we choose those kinds of venues, and reserve quotas for when we know there's a wild (and likely intentional) underrepresentation of our wheelchair-dependent community members (or those who might become members).

Ultimately, what I'm getting at is I think the goals should be pursuits, not fixed. They should prioritize being a place where different people feel invited and welcome over having X number of Y kind of people present. I think that's a distinction that also recognizes that people may just choose not to attend an event even if it seems like a healthy environment for them.

Example of structuring goals as pursuits: Check out how Carnegie Mellon groups strategic recommendations within its diversity and inclusion goal. The exact strategies might not be right for our events, but thinking about strategies this way may be.

[drnikki]

From an anonymous contributor:

Notes and Research

On one hand, there is a definite need for ensuring diversity because this: http://50prozent.speakerinnen.org/en/events/475 ? Yeah. That's bad.

On the other hand, there are those who always crow radically about Reverse Discrimination (which, in my opinion, is practically Null as a topic in the Drupal Community....).

I attempted to research methods of avoidance on Reverse Discrimination, but it appears very strongly to me that it must occur simply because we have very firmly shown that the concept of the Meritocracy tends to be a lie by both implementation ( https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/the-dehumanizing-myth-of-the-meritocracy ) and reality ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/female-coders-tend-to-create-better-codes-but-they-face-a-gender-bias/2016/02/22/8eb01de0-d650-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html?utm_term=.e22ddddfea7a ).

Finally, there is the concept of the quotas itself. Affirmative Action in the USA tended to result (from my experience) in people hiring / firing / selecting with an eye literally meet minimum numbers. ( The Texas HUB Program comes to mind -> https://www.comptroller.texas.gov/purchasing/vendor/hub/ ).

The Affirmative Action Bake Sales which routinely occur at major Universities across the USA also point towards one of the more demeaning aspects of Reverse Discrimination: Openly denying the Justice behind it tends to lead to rioting -> https://www.texastribune.org/2016/10/26/affirmative-action-bake-sale-ut-austin-met-protest/ The Students in question tend to be very vocally for equality, but feel a better solution should be found than maintaining a policy of (what they feel to be) Reverse Discrimination in the form of Affirmative Action (something the Supreme Court held up as legal in June 2016 within the USA -> https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/us/politics/supreme-court-affirmative-action-university-of-texas.html?_r=0 )

Personal Thoughts

The Supreme Court found that this is Legal in the USA:

https://equity.utexas.edu/compliance-reporting/affirmative-action-plan/

They made this decision because the Policies may create a slight disadvantage to a few of the historically more privileged (whether this is true currently is irrelevant), while creating an environment with a great many more advantages for those less privileged.

Why can't the Drupal Community do the same?

Concerns

Philosophy and cultural environment aside, my concerns with Diversity Quotas (besides the name) is the possibility of setting unrealistic Goals in the form of Requirements.

(Please forgive the discriminatory tone of the next piece. It is semi-intentional because one of my concerns is the following response from Event Organizers who are unconcerned with Diversity & Inclusion.)

If there must be, for example, at minimum a 33% female speaker ratio, 33% disabled, a 33% 'Asian' (which, in itself, is exclusive), etc. then you may find your only acceptable Speakers are disabled Asian women.

In contrast, the setting of requirements, even very realistic, logical, and easily obtained requirements, means we would also need to be exploring the topic of Disciplinary Action to ensure the success of the Affirmative Action Plan and I believe it is something the Drupal Association would ultimately be responsible / make the decisions for (though we can certainly strongly encourage).
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[sugaroverflow]

Setting minimums on ratios concerns me as well. Maybe setting a goal on increasing a specific number would be better? For example, instead of minimum 33% female speakers -> "Have 10 more female speakers this year".

on Diversity Statistics

Finding an easy way for organizers to communicate their diversity quota statics from the previous event or even their goals for the current one. Perhaps this would be best solved with a template they can fill out (@drnikki) that generates visual graphs. I can do some research to see if there are some easy to use data-to-chart applications that we can provide as resources.

During the DC New Orleans closing presentation, they showed visual graphics for the % genders of the speakers, where attendees were coming from, and even how much coffee was consumed at the conference. I found the graphics easy to understand and memorable.