[diversity] [Ext] Re: Finalizing (draft) charter of the Diversity TF by 2nd October

On 27/09/2017 10:57, Shane Kerr wrote:
>>
>>>> So to me it’s more: if this TF does a great job, as a result
>>>> we’ll see diversity increased, but that is not the direct goal -
>>>> to me the direct goal is more removing barriers that prevent
>>>> diversity, and looking for ways to offset barriers we can’t
>>>> remove.  
>>>
>>> I like your way of looking at this :)  
>>
>> May I ask why the TF's goal should not be an actual increase in
>> diversity and instead should just be the removal of (some) barriers?
>> How can we know whether the TF's work addresses the right barriers if
>> the goal is defined by the work being done and not the outcome of the
>> work?
> 
> I agree.
> 
> The goal should not be to have a RIPE community that could in theory be
> diverse, but rather to have a RIPE community that *is* diverse.

There may be factors in society at large that mean fewer women want to
come to a RIPE meeting. We can address some of those, by being a more
welcoming place, and by actively showing that we are. But we can't fix
everything: it's not given to us in this TF to persuade more women to
become network engineers in the first place, or to study STEM topics.

I think "fixing RIPE" is ambitious enough. Fixing society, well that's a
rabbit hole beyond the scope of this TF.

But we don't need to limit ourselves to "some" barriers. Any barrier
that RIPE places in the way of diverse participation that reasonably can
be removed, without causing more problems than it solves, we should address.

In short, let's try to do what we can. But not more.

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