On 11/10/13 10:21 AM, Ted Lemon wrote:
So, I don't actually know what to do to encourage more women to come
to IETF other than addressing harassment, which I realize is not
enough. I notice that you haven't been active on the list. Do you
have suggestions that you could contribute?
I opted to sit the discussion out because I don't see a way
to move forward on improving policies while still respecting
the IETF consensus process - there's just too much disagreement
that there's a problem. I do think there's stuff that can be
done at an individual level and I've been impressed with this
year's nomcom. I'd *love* to see a little more risk-taking
in the choice of working group chairs, and mentoring once we
bring on someone who's inexperienced and possibly somewhat
clueless. Have apprentice working group chairs, if it comes
to that. Intellectual leadership comes from the set of
people who write influential drafts and the set of people who
write influential reviews, and perhaps there's some way we
can figure out to work with people to improve their drafts and/or
improve their reviews (I've been trying to do that a bit). I
think there are a few things that can be done on an individual,
voluntary basis that won't require getting buy-in from people who
still regret women getting the vote.
I don't know if the diversity group has opted not to work
on gender issues because it's just too contentious, because
regional issues are easier, because they're planning to work
on it later, because of lack of interest, ... but it's pretty
striking.
Anyway, the greybeards photo *is* kind of funny (although it looks
pretty much like any night at the lodge here in Two Rivers, AK),
but there is this association between the word "greybeards" and the
notion of senior, wiser people who provide elder leadership, so maybe
it's kind of uncool to be dismissive of the rather obvious observation
that there were no women in the picture. A "Yeah, we realize that
but [ ... ]" would have done the trick.
Melinda