Internet DRAFT - draft-knodel-nomcom-gender-representation
draft-knodel-nomcom-gender-representation
Network Working Group M. Knodel
Internet-Draft Center for Democracy and Technology
Intended status: Informational 17 January 2024
Expires: 20 July 2024
Gender Representation in the IETF Nominating Committees
draft-knodel-nomcom-gender-representation-01
Abstract
This document extends the existing limit on nomcom representation by
company in order to improve gender diversity by ensuring that not all
voting members of the IETF Nominating Committee (nomcom) belong to
the same gender.
About This Document
This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.
The latest revision of this draft can be found at
https://mallory.github.io/nomcom-gender-representation/draft-knodel-
nomcom-gender-representation.html. Status information for this
document may be found at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-
knodel-nomcom-gender-representation/.
Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
https://github.com/mallory/nomcom-gender-representation.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 20 July 2024.
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2024 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components
extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
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provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Gender Representation in the IETF Nomcom . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. Suggested Remedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
6. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Appendix A. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1. Introduction
The literature supports the claims that lack of gender diversity in
hiring teams reinforce under representation of gender minorities in
leadership positions and that lack of gender diversity in leadership
perpetuates gender discrimination [Vervoe].
2. Gender Representation in the IETF Nomcom
The IETF considers influence and weaknesses in nomcom selection in
[RFC8713]. Likewise, gender diversity in IETF leadership should be
considered a community strengthening exercise insofar as gender
diversity has been shown to lead to more productivity, creativity and
reinforces a culture of respect and value for all participants. If
we consider the nomcom as a "team", it will itself benefit from
having more gender diversity among its voting members.
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To address gender representation in the IETF nomcom, at a minimum we
can ensure that all voting members are not of the same gender. All
attempts to ensure gender representation in the nomcom should
include: a. increase participation in the community from women and
non-binary individuals so that the eligible pool is more gender
diverse. b. encourage eligible women and non-binary members of the
community to accept selection to the nomcom.
While the IETF does not routinely confirm the gender of volunteers,
we have committed to improving gender diversity in the community by
way of measuring it and identifying concrete steps to mitigate
imbalance.
3. Suggested Remedy
The “two-per-organisation limit” can easily be extended to ensure a
nomcom consisting of no more than n-1 members from any one gender
(where n is the number of available volunteer slots), requiring skips
for the nth slot until a gender minority volunteer is chosen.
This assumes that for any given pool therein contains at least one
gender minority volunteer. If there does not exist one gender
minority volunteer in a given year's pool, this rule is withdrawn and
the community should be notified of this reason that all ten nomcom
volunteers will have the same gender that year.
This short remedy might update [RFC8713].
4. Security Considerations
There are no security considerations for this document.
5. IANA Considerations
This document has no IANA actions.
6. Informative References
[RFC8713] Kucherawy, M., Ed., Hinden, R., Ed., and J. Livingood,
Ed., "IAB, IESG, IETF Trust, and IETF LLC Selection,
Confirmation, and Recall Process: Operation of the IETF
Nominating and Recall Committees", BCP 10, RFC 8713,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8713, February 2020,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8713>.
[RFC9389] Duke, M., "Nominating Committee Eligibility", BCP 10,
RFC 9389, DOI 10.17487/RFC9389, April 2023,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9389>.
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[Vervoe] Vervo, "Gender Discrimination in Hiring Practices", 2022,
<https://vervoe.com/gender-discrimination-in-hiring-
practices/>.
Appendix A. Acknowledgments
Thanks to Martin Thompson and Suresh Krishnan for informed initial
thoughts on bringing this idea to the community.
Author's Address
Mallory Knodel
Center for Democracy and Technology
Email: mknodel@cdt.org
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