Re: W3C action/response to the BLM Movement

Thanks, Wendy.

Several years ago, the Team worked with the Advisory Board to establish 
policies about W3C making public statements [1].  Based on this policy, 
it is not in our scope to make a statement about Black Lives Matter, 
until/unless we change [1].

W3C does support the work of IDCG and strives to improve inclusion and 
diversity.  I endorse your renewed call for additional action in this 
area.  I hope to be able to make this call.  June is the time for my 
annual blog report on Diversity at W3C [2], and so this discussion is 
very timely for me.

Jeff

[1] https://www.w3.org/2014/01/PSGMatrix

[2] https://www.w3.org/blog/tags/inclusion/

On 6/4/2020 7:03 PM, Reid, Wendy wrote:
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
>
> I hope everyone has been keeping well and safe during these times. I 
> wanted to reach out to this group as I believe we need to do something 
> to address the W3C’s lack of diversity and inclusion in 2020, a time 
> where we see protests for the rights of black people take over not 
> just the United States and Canada, but many other places as well.
>
>
> The web is a platform for many great things, including the organizing 
> for many of these protests and movements, but it is also where world 
> leaders make threats and groups gather to profess hate. As an 
> organization we’ve built specifications around the ideas of 
> inclusivity, security, and privacy, but the faces in the rooms where 
> these discussions are held still do not reflect the makeup of the 
> world around us. Tech, and by extension the W3C, is notoriously male 
> and white.
>
>
> I notice that W3C has not yet made a public statement about their 
> support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and I wanted to come here 
> because if/when that happens, the logical request will be for what 
> actions is W3C intending to make to address our lack of diversity.
>
>
> So I raise the question here first, because I think everyone here is 
> of the mind that we should do something. I do think this should be a 
> sentiment and action that comes from W3M, the AB, AC, and the members 
> as a whole, but I hope we can come up with a starting point for 
> everyone to build off of.
>
>
> What should W3C do about the lack of diversity in our working groups 
> and F2F meetings?
>
> How can we as an organization support community members who are 
> limited in participation by factors like economics, family situation, 
> geography?
>
> What actions should we take to recruit more members from diverse 
> backgrounds and retain them once they are here?
>
>
> I propose we have a call soon to discuss these matters, but I will 
> leave that judgement to the chairs. Thank you for your consideration.
>
>
> Sincerely,
> Wendy Reid
> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>