[OSGeo-Discuss] Rewording the diversity argument

[Andy Anderson]

+1

On Oct 13, 2017, at 3:01 AM, Marc Vloemans <marcvloemans1 at gmail.com<mailto:marcvloemans1 at gmail.com>> wrote:

Dear all,

Please notice that the concept of diversity is not about equal numbers/quota's. That has and will backfire as it misses the point and easily degrades individual achievements.

It is essentially about 'inclusiveness'!

I am trying to be sensitive to the European way of approaching the matter versus the American way. 'Diversity' as a term carries different connotations/values/interpretations for different cultures.
Therefore I rather talk about 'inclusiveness' as everyone has felt left out at least once. So is able to relate to how that feels.

Are we inviting and welcoming everyone that adds value in some way or is genuinely interested in OSGeo?
Do we truly have the 'open' culture we pride ourselves on (e.g. past email treads attacking individuals could suggest differently)?
Please, lets work on that, keep each other sharp and avoid window dressing.

Kind regards,
Marc Vloemans


Op 13 okt. 2017 om 08:23 heeft María Arias de Reyna <delawen+osgeo at gmail.com<mailto:delawen+osgeo at gmail.com>> het volgende geschreven:

Hi Ger-Jan (and all),

On Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 6:00 PM, Gert-Jan van der Weijden - Stichting OSGeo.nl<http://osgeo.nl/> <gert-jan at osgeo.nl<mailto:gert-jan at osgeo.nl>> wrote:
Hi Board member candidates (and fellow voter members),
= And one to all of you:
Some of you talk about being an inclusive organization.
For the geographical and probably cultural aspect of inclusiveness, do you think the Board should have it's roots in as much continents / languages as possible, so preferably 1 Board member from every continent (not counting for Antarctica, ha!)


I am no friend of quotas. At least everytime I have been offered things just because I was a woman and they needed a female because [reason not related to my real value] it made me feel really bad. Why would I want to be somewhere (a board or whatever) where everyone knows I am there not because I deserve it but because something I didn't even choose? If I accepted, no one was going to hear my voice, I would have been unable to do anything for real. No, thanks.

Said this, on an ideal world probably we would have in average one person for each continent or language or culture or ethnicity or gender or whatever criteria you want to split people into.

Would we achieve this by forcing quotas? We could but, I rather prefer to get more diverse people engage and enthusiast with OSGeo so in the end they will become natural leaders. Making an effort to help diverse people more comfortable in OSGeo and encourage them to participate more? Yes. Giving visibility to diverse people that are doing great things inside OSGeo? Sure. Making an effort to put someone in some position just because we have to fill a quota? No, thanks.

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