Subject: [edu-team] Diversity Letter

From: Margaret Wasserman <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2013 09:33:50 -0500

[This message is bcc:ed to a couple of small lists.  Sorry for any duplicates.]

A number of us have written an open letter to the I* (below) which I will be sending out (to the IESG, IAB, IAOC, ISOC Board and [email-masked]) this evening.  

If you concerned about the lack of diversity in the IETF leadership and would like your name to be included in the alphabetical list of people who have signed this letter, please let me know.

Margaret

** An Open Letter to the IESG, the IAB, the IAOC and the ISOC Board **

Dear Members of the IETF Leadership,

We would like to call your attention to an issue that weakens the
IETF's decision-making process and calls into question the
legitimacy of the IETF as an International Standards Development
Organization: the lack of diversity of the IETF leadership.

In addition to the moral and social issues involved, diversity of
leadership across several axes (race, geographic location, gender
and corporate affiliation) is important for three practical reasons:

    - It is a well-established fact that diverse groups are smarter
      and make better decisions than less-diverse groups. 

    - Lack of diversity in our leadership becomes a self-perpetuating
      problem, because people who are not represented in the IETF
      leadership are less likely to dedicate their time and effort to
      the IETF.

    - The lack of diversity in the IETF leadership undermines our
      credibility and challenges our legitimacy as an International
      Standards Development Organization.

Unfortunately, despite a substantial increase in the number of IETF
leadership positions (from 25 to 32) and increasingly diverse
attendance at IETF meetings, the diversity of the IETF leadership has
not improved.  In fact, it seems to have dropped significantly over
the past ten years.

For example, ten years ago, in February of 2003, there were 25 members
of the IETF leadership (12 IAB members and 13 IESG members).  Of those
25 members, there was one East Asian member, there was one member from
a country outside of North America or Europe, and there were four
women.  There were 23 companies represented in the IETF leadership
(out of a total of 25 seats).

In February of 2013, there were 32 members of the IETF leadership
(12 IAB members, 15 IESG members and 5 IAOC members).  Of those 32
members, all of them were white, all of them were from North America or
Europe, and there was only one woman.  There were only 19 companies
represented (out of a total of 32 seats).

It is important to the continued relevance and success of the IETF
that we address this issue and eliminate whatever factors are
contributing to the lack of diversity in our leadership.  We believe
that this is an important and urgent issue that requires your
immediate attention.

There are several steps that could be taken, in the short-term within
our existing BCPs, to address this problem:

     - Each of the IETF leadership bodies (the IESG, IAB and IAOC)
       could update the qualifications that they submit to the
       Nominations Committee (through the IAD) to make it clear that
       the Nominations Committee should actively seek to increase the
       diversity of that body in terms of race, geographic location,
       gender and corporate affiliation.

     - Each of the confirming bodies (the ISOC Board for the IAB, the
       IAB for the IESG, and the IESG for the IAOC) could make a
       public statement at the beginning of each year's nominations
       process that they will not confirm a slate unless it
       contributes to increased diversity within the IETF leadership,
       or it is accompanied by a detailed explanation of what
       steps were taken to select a more diverse slate and why it was
       not possible to do so.

     - The ISOC President could continue to select Nominations
       Committee Chairs who understand the value of diversity and are
       committed to increasing the diversity of the IETF.

     - The Nominations Committee could be offered resources or
       training on the value of diversity, techniques to recruit a
       more diverse candidate pool, and/or information about how to
       minimize conflict-of-interest and personal bias in their
       selection process.

We also feel that more substantial and longer-term changes may be
needed to fully address this issue.  Therefore, we request that the
new IETF Chair assemble a design team (with diverse membership, of
course) to determine the causes of this problem and to make
suggestions for longer-term solutions to be considered by the IETF.

We are committed to working within the IETF to make the changes
that are needed to correct this serious issue.

Best Regards,

<Alphabetical list of signatures>