Call for diversity

[Aahz]

The Python community is both incredibly diverse (Python 3.1's release
manager was not yet eighteen years old) and incredibly lacking in
diversity (none of the regular committers is a woman).

Kirrily Robert gave a keynote at OSCON last week about women in Open
Source, and I blogged about the lunchtime aftermath (if you're not
familiar with the issues, I suggest making sure to follow all the links
I included):

http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=263671

Thinking further, I believe that the Python community really needs to be
more active in creating diversity.  As my blog says, the first step is
for us to admit that there is a problem.  

I believe that the next step is for us as a community to make a formal
statement supporting diversity.  I've created a new mailing list
(diversity at python.org) to discuss the wording of a diversity statement,
along with discussing diversity issues in general.  I invite anyone
interested in the subject of diversity to join the list -- even if you
disagree that actively supporting diversity is needed, I would like a
chance to convince you.

http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/diversity

Please note that I believe that the Python community is generally
welcoming and that the Python community would jump on anyone who behaved
in an overtly prejudiced way (unlike some controversies in other
communities).  However, I think that we have also inherited the lack of
diversity in Open Source as a whole, and I believe that taking a more
active role in building diversity will build a more vibrant Python
community.

After all, as Kirrily pointed out, the more inclusive we are, the more
people we have working on Python.

I just started a new job this week, so I'm not going to be pushing this
any time soon -- but I also feel that I need to throw this out so that
other people can get involved if they want.
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

"Many customs in this life persist because they ease friction and promote
productivity as a result of universal agreement, and whether they are
precisely the optimal choices is much less important." --Henry Spencer