Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
PRACTICAL DIVERSITY and
The Question of Quotas
Brighton March 2016
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
I’m A Bit of a Diversity Statistic
❑ Woman… (working in tech) ❑ Gay… ❑ Foreign… ❑ Employed (this is a bad thing if you’re foreign…) ❑ Disabled… ❑ Atheist…
❑ BUT grew up hugely aware of (unasked & undeserved) privilege I had growing up white in Apartheid South Africa.
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
My childhood was FULL of signs like these
Horrible & horrific but impossible
to escape
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
I CANNOT DENY THAT PRIVILEGEIn fact, the most useful thing I can do is assess, understanding & acknowledge that privilege
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
Check out the original article from Peggy McIntosh: http://www.amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html
In Apartheid South Africa, ALL systems
were set up to actively & blatantly give advantage to white folks and
disadvantage non-whites.
We are less good at spotting this when it
isn’t so blatant.
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
“We have to aggressively, and uncompromisingly, attack the pernicious lie that the technology industry is a meritocracy. Perpetuating this myth only serves to bolster the egos of those who have succeeded already, at the expense of saying that people who are underrepresented in tech today aren’t present because they aren’t good”
– Anil Dash
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
PRIVILEGE IS A PROBLEM WHEN PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE ENTITLED TO AND DESERVING OF THEIR ADVANTAGES
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
Privilege = Difficulty Setting of Game of Life
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
BUT TOLERANCE IS A TERRIBLE WORD
Would YOU want to be tolerated?
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
WOULDN’T A FULLY INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENT BE BETTER?
PROTIP: Helps Everyone!
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
Diversity is a Spectrum
Active hatred & discrimination (*isms)
Micro aggressions
Indifference Active inclusion
Tolerance
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
“A micro-aggression is telling young boys that they are very smart, and telling young girls that they are very pretty. ”
- Faruk Ates @kurafire
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
So How Do We Move Right Way?
1. STOP allowing underprivileged groups to be pushed away (actively/deliberately OR passively/unintentionally)
2. START building actively inclusive environments
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
40% OF WOMEN LEAVE THE TECH INDUSTRY WITHIN 10 YEARS OF GRADUATING
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
ARE QUOTAS A NECESSARY PART OF MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
TWO MAIN VIEWPOINTS:1) YOU GET WHAT YOU MEASURE 2) YOU HURT INDIVIDUALS BY MAKING THEM “DIVERSITY HIRES” (IMPLYING THEY ARE NOT AS GOOD)
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
A BETTER PIPELINE DOESN’T HELP IF A MEAT GRINDER LIES AT THE END OF IT
Meri Williams, ChromeRose @Geek_Manager
CREATING AN INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENT:1) AM I EXPECTED HERE? 2) AM I RESPECTED HERE? 3) CAN SOMEONE LIKE ME BE SUCCESSFUL HERE?