# Diversity on the governance teams

**URL:** https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/diversity-on-the-governance-teams/2048
**Category:** policy
**Created:** [May 16, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/diversity-on-the-governance-teams/2048 "2015-05-16T02:57:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 93

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### Author: ![graydon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/internals.rust-lang.org/graydon/32/643_2.png) [@graydon](https://internals.rust-lang.org/u/graydon)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/diversity-on-the-governance-teams/2048/93 "2015-05-18T14:45:06Z")

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Mitsuhiko: this very discussion – with its questioning, refuting, minimizing, derailing and excuse-making – is an active part of the problem. I am observing and experiencing that subjective fact myself, and have heard several women observing this discussion comment the same way.

It’s 2015 and we’ve been around this block about a thousand times already in the FLOSS world. It’s way past time for it to be excusable to make up reasons for women not participating in a field. There’s research on why, organized explanations of things that make it worse – conversations like this one, among them – and experience reports on how to make it better. Ball is in the leadership team’s court. They really don’t need you making further excuses, it makes it worse.

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