Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in WordPress

Inviting new voices to an established and global project, like WordPress, takes proactive and thoughtful work on behalf of leaders and contributors, especially since open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. contribution requires a fair amount of privilege. WordPress seeks to embrace this reality and work to lower the barrier of entry, proactively and consistently over time. Listen to episode 13 of the WP Briefing podcast to learn more. 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in WordPress

Similar to why we have various glossaries for everything from block editor concepts to core development terminology, it’s important when talking about these concepts that there’s a shared understanding and that there is a recognition that these concepts work in unison:

• Diversity is engaging people with different viewpoints and lived experiences. 
• Equity is making sure everyone has what they need to get a fair chance of success, which is different from equality.
• Inclusion is making sure that the environment is built to not simply tolerate diverse groups but to celebrate them as well. 

With these concepts in mind, as a community, we accept that it’s not the job of underrepresented folks to figure out if they are welcome. It’s up to us to make it clear that they are. To that aim, there are a few baked in ways the WordPress space strives to do exactly that: 

• Text-based meetings with an explanation of what is done in the meeting, who comes to the meetings, where to find help if you’re lost in the meeting, and for teams that have a specific type of requests that comes into those channels that aren’t handled in those channels. 
• Clearly documented processes and information around where to start in each team’s handbooks in order to help more people know how to join in and get started. 
• Regularly run diverse speaker training to help encourage more folks from more backgrounds to speak at WordCamps. 

How to get involved

Every day when we interact with each other there’s a chance to embrace these concepts. In the same way, every line of code adds up to create a new WordPress release, every interaction does the same to create a diverse, inclusive, and equitable space. 

Product:

• Polyglots team
• Accessibility team
• Testing and triaging

Community: 

• Diverse speaker series
• WordCamps and Meetups 

For additional information about WordPress programs that strive to support diverse voices, see this series of posts about #WPDiversity.

Last updated: October 7, 2024