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Add Diversity and Inclusion working group #48

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57057a2
Add Diversity and Inclusion working group
Arya-AD Jul 14, 2025
7d0e697
Add Priya Pahwa to the wg members.
Arya-AD Jul 14, 2025
686aa97
Modify the WG email address
Arya-AD Jul 20, 2025
3c45a9f
Clarify the group's purpose
Arya-AD Feb 19, 2026
7b9f614
Revise D&I document for mentorship and member update
Arya-AD Feb 19, 2026
42ded16
Apply suggestion from @Copilot
Arya-AD Feb 19, 2026
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Apply suggestion from @thibaudcolas
Arya-AD Feb 19, 2026
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67 changes: 67 additions & 0 deletions active/diversity-inclusion.md
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# Diversity & Inclusion Working Group

## Scope of responsibilities

The working group's purpose is to support the DSF in supporting and facilitating the growth of a diverse and international community of Django programmers, and especially to make sure that the voices of Underrepresented groups are heard in order to foster a more inclusive and diverse Django community.
Our primary goal is to increase participation from underrepresented groups, create an inclusive community environment, and promote diverse leadership within the Django project. We also aim to provide guidance to the DSF Board of Directors in line with this mandate.
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@ulgens ulgens Jan 8, 2026

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Isn't this pretty vague? What does it mean to increase participation, and what is our understanding of an underrepresented group? I have several related concerns here:

  • We focus on gender and nationality-based "inclusion" a lot, but we neglect the inclusion of neurodivergent individuals. Our current processes (speaking from experience) and approach to communication can easily burn out a neurodivergent individual. I'd expect those issues to be addressed in this group.
  • What action would the group take the increase inclusion?

The Working Group will pursue this goal in several ways including:

- Recruiting globally representative Working Group members that will advocate for and provide insights on behalf of their local communities. Our members will, where possible, include representatives from each continent/ region.
- Discussing policy, initiatives, grant proposals and membership to recommend to the DSF Board of Directors in line with the group’s purpose.
- Communicating and collecting feedback from the Django community to understand how the DSF can better serve and grow a diverse membership.
- Measuring, evaluating, and sharing the DSF’s progress towards its diversity initiatives on a regular basis.
- The Working Group reserves the right to consult with outside experts.
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@thibaudcolas thibaudcolas Sep 7, 2025

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This feels evident so I don’t think this needs to be in the group’s responsibilities?

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@Arya-AD Arya-AD Feb 19, 2026

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Yeah you're right. Nevertheless, I think it's always better to clearly mention certain things. It could be of help to others and future members who might not see it as evident like you and me. Don't you think?

- Serving as the Djangonaut Space other mentorship programs D&I liaison.
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@thibaudcolas thibaudcolas Sep 7, 2025

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I don’t understand what a D&I liaison is, I think this needs either more specific "liaison" tasks, or on the opposite replace with a more generic "Supporting mentorship programs like Djangonaut Space to achieve diversity and inclusion goals"?

When I see "liaison" I generally think of a single person, not a group.

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@Arya-AD Arya-AD Feb 19, 2026

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Ohh I didn't see it that way. But I prefer your reformulation, it's more clear and concise. Thanks

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Missing word in the sentence. Should read "Serving as the Djangonaut Space and other mentorship programs D&I liaison" or similar phrasing to clarify the relationship between "Djangonaut Space" and "other mentorship programs".

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- Serving as the Djangonaut Space other mentorship programs D&I liaison.
- Serving as the Djangonaut Space and other mentorship programs D&I liaison.

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- Performing Audit or report on D&I of Django events and contributors.
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@thibaudcolas thibaudcolas Sep 7, 2025

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I don’t understand the difference between audits and reports in this context? And how this point is different to:

  • Measuring, evaluating, and sharing the DSF’s progress towards its diversity initiatives on a regular basis.

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@ulgens ulgens Jan 8, 2026

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I'm not even sure how the group would audit D&I. If we are going to measure the "inclusion" of "underrepresented" groups, that metric is almost guaranteed to be performative (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law). The best I think we can do is not fall into the trap of convenience and playing into the majority, and trying to accommodate a wide range of needs, but that means a significant increase in operational costs. Still not sure how that could be audited.

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Inconsistent capitalization. "Audit" should be lowercase to match the sentence structure "Performing audit or report on D&I of Django events and contributors."

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- Performing Audit or report on D&I of Django events and contributors.
- Performing audit or report on D&I of Django events and contributors.

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- Supporting the organisation of regional Django related events around the world in line with the group's purpose.
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@thibaudcolas thibaudcolas Sep 7, 2025

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Supporting events feels like the job of #46. How will the two groups work together?

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@ulgens ulgens Jan 8, 2026

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+1. Also, what does that mean for the event? Would the group provide assistance with D&I-related workload (I'm not sure which tasks that would include)

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British spelling "organisation" should be changed to American spelling "organization" for consistency with the rest of the document and codebase, which uses American English.

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- Supporting the organisation of regional Django related events around the world in line with the group's purpose.
- Supporting the organization of regional Django related events around the world in line with the group's purpose.

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- Providing support to the DSF board of directors in managing the DSF Membership and the DSF members.
-

## Initial membership

- Chair: Ariane Djeupang
- Co-Chair: Keanya Phelps
- Board Liaison: Afi Maame
- Other members:
- Eli Rosselli
- TBD
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@thibaudcolas thibaudcolas Sep 7, 2025

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Not a big deal but with "TBD" I don’t understand if that means there are more members in discussions and already expected, or if the group is open to more members, or something else?


## Future membership

- Folks that would like to join the Diversity and Inclusion Work Group should send an email to the WG `diversity-inclusion@djangoproject.org` introducing themselves. The WG will vote on new member requests verbally at meetings, and the board can take part to the vote.
- The working group adopts the DSF [Code of Conduct](https://www.djangoproject.com/conduct/) .
- Any actions made against the principles in the Code of Conduct (found by a simple majority of 51%+) will result in the acting person being removed from the working group.
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@thibaudcolas thibaudcolas Sep 7, 2025

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I’m not sure I understand this one? Generally making decisions based on the Code of Conduct is the remit of the CoC WG. The equivalent language in the accessibility team charter reflects that:

  • Becoming disqualified by the Code of Conduct working group

Unless you want to get to something else by taking about the "principles" of the CoC? But it feels like you could use simpler language then? For example from the Online Community WG:

Members can propose a vote on removing a member from the working group. This needs 50%+1 agreement.

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@ulgens ulgens Jan 8, 2026

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+1 on simplifying language, but I don't support the majority being able to remove a person just with their votes. I believe there should be a really good reason to remove someone from a group, such as failing to fulfill their responsibilities defined by the charter or violating the CoC.

- Diversity and Inclusion working group voting members are required to confirm their intent to continue participating in the Working Group within one month of a new DSF Board election. This will be led by chair/vice-chair. If there is no response within two weeks, then the individual is automatically removed.
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@thibaudcolas thibaudcolas Sep 7, 2025

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This feels pretty harsh (depending on how literally you interpret this I suppose?). Not sure if that’s your intention. Also note yearly elections of the DSF Board are held close to the christmas period where lots of people are away, and there can be other elections in theory if Board members left during the year.

- A member of the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, can step down at any time, and the working group will work to replace that voting member.
- The Chair / Co-Chair will be responsible for coordinating the group, scheduling meetings, renewing the group’s membership, and ensuring that the group’s activities align with its scope and responsibilities.
-
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Empty bullet point at the end of the Future membership section. This should either be removed or filled with content.

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## Budget

- TBA
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@thibaudcolas thibaudcolas Sep 7, 2025

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I’m not sure if the plan is to complete this before or after the group’s initial formation?


## Comms

- The team will communicate via the `diversity-inclusion-wg@djangoproject.org` mailing list, through Discord and Slack.
- If needed, conference calls may be set up via Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or Zoom.
- The method of voting on projects and proposals will be determined by the working group.
- Preferred method of voting will be electronically (email or chat) and the vote results will be reported via email to the board in the monthly report.
- Asynchronous communication will be preferred as membership will be in many different time zones.
-


## Reporting

- The Diversity and Inclusion Working Group will submit by email a monthly report to the DSF board of Directors.
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@thibaudcolas thibaudcolas Sep 7, 2025

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None of our other WGs do monthly reports, this feels very ambitious. Why do you suggest this frequency?

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@ulgens ulgens Jan 8, 2026

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+1 on @thibaudcolas 's comment.

My additional comments;

  • I couldn't catch what will be reported here. What type of output will be generated monthly?
  • Also, why just share it only with the board? It would be a report that interests everyone in and outside of the community, why don't we share it publicly and allow all related parties to see it?



## Appendix

### Decision Making Procedures
- Discussions will happen via online communication platforms, video chat, or mailing list.
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@thibaudcolas thibaudcolas Sep 7, 2025

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This just repeats "comms" above?

- With respect to new policy recommendations:
- The working group may solicit feedback on proposed drafts.
- The working group will consider outside input, edit the document, then vote for final approval.
- The working group will vote on new standards and will require a quorum of two-thirds of the voting members for approval of motions / content.
Comment on lines +66 to +67
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@thibaudcolas thibaudcolas Sep 7, 2025

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I don’t understand the difference between "final proposal" and "new standards" when it comes to "new policy recommendations"?



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@sabderemane sabderemane Jul 14, 2025

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Is it a mistake? It would preferable to keep the template for others :)

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@Arya-AD Arya-AD Jul 14, 2025

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Yes pls it was a mistake

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@sabderemane sabderemane Jul 14, 2025

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No worries, if you re-add the template it will be no longer in the changes.

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