<div dir="ltr">Hi Frederik,<div><br></div><div>Honestly, I don't find the OSMF Board a particularly friendly place for women or people from cultures other than North American or European cultures right now. Though I'm simply guessing on the people of other cultures. I personally haven't faced overt sexism but the style of communication and decision making isn't particularly collaborative. Maybe it isn't the right time to recruit more diversity. That is unless we are seriously committed to change.<br></div><div><br></div><div>I implore the membership to think of people to nominate that are good at building bridges instead of fences. This is not something we are particularly good at in OSM or the OSMF. Who can brings us better together rather than separate us? Different opinions should be heard, but it takes a special kind of person to keep things calm. </div><div><br></div><div>On the note of quotas, personally I'm not so sure about it in the OSMF context. At the risk of starting an entire other debate. One way I would suggest to bring diversity of the board is to not have all the board members be elected from the membership. If you look at the Wikimedia Foundation for example they have a mixed board. This allows them to bring in other expertise and views as needed. An advisory board is another option.</div><div><br></div><div>-Kate</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Sep 27, 2014 at 7:40 AM, Frederik Ramm <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:frederik@remote.org" target="_blank">frederik@remote.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Hi,<br>
<br>
a couple people have suggested that there should be some kind of<br>
quota, reserving a certain number of board seats for defined groups of<br>
people who we feel are under-represented. Most people think of women in<br>
this respect because women are one of the largest under-represented groups.<br>
<br>
I've already said that I don't think that the OSMF board is really the<br>
place to effect change. Not even symbolic change; feminists often<br>
rightly say that a couple good role models do a lot for motivation, but<br>
what we need IMHO is female *mapper* role models, not female *board<br>
member* role models.<br>
<br>
I think that setting up any kinds of rules about who can occupy board<br>
positions is silly, and un-democratic. I used to be, for many years, a<br>
campaigner for "no (geo)commercial interests on the OSMF board", and if<br>
given half the chance I would have enshrined a rule that would have<br>
disallowed anyone employed by Cloudmade, Microsoft, Telenav, Mapbox,<br>
Geofabrik, Mapquest or any other commercial organisation from being a<br>
board member. I floated that idea with a large number of people and<br>
almost everyone said: You know, as long as the affiliations are out in<br>
the open, you must respect the will of the voters - if they know that<br>
someone works for X and they vote that person in, then that's that. I<br>
had to accept that I was perhaps over-zealous, and in the end took a<br>
seat on the board myself even though I, too, have a commercial background.<br>
<br>
Same with "affirmative action" when it comes to a democratically elected<br>
body - I don't think there's room for it.<br>
<br>
Having said that, I would absolutely love to be able to give my vote to<br>
a couple of female contenders for a seat the OSMF board. I personally<br>
know a couple of women who care for OSM, who have been long time<br>
community members and bona fide mappers, and I've tried to convince them<br>
to stand in the past, with no luck. It seems that most people who are<br>
interested in mapping and doing cool stuff with OSM are not interested<br>
in "politics".<br>
<br>
I know that men can be pro-diversity or even feminists too, but frankly,<br>
I'd much rather have women advancing their cause than men trying to beat<br>
them at it. Advancing your own cause is, in my eyes, quite a central<br>
element to OSM.<br>
<br>
So if you're a woman, and you can imagine serving a couple years on the<br>
OSMF board, please do step forward. I don't think there should be a seat<br>
reserved for you because of your gender, but I'm pretty sure that voters<br>
will actually prefer a diverse board to one that just preaches diversity.<br>
<br>
Bye<br>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">Frederik<br>
<br>
--<br>
Frederik Ramm ## eMail <a href="mailto:frederik@remote.org">frederik@remote.org</a> ## N49°00'09" E008°23'33"<br>
<br>
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