Because we do not collect participants’ data, to preserve privacy, it is difficult to gather data for different characterizations of diversity, and we do not have data about the many participants who are involved in different ways at W3C across our many work groups, mailing lists and GitHub activity.
We are able to focus however on gender and geography for several of our governance bodies:
- W3C Advisory Board (AB)
- W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG)
- W3C Management (W3M)
W3C Advisory Board
The W3C Advisory Board provides ongoing guidance to the Team on issues of strategy, management, legal matters, process, and conflict resolution. The elected Members of the Advisory Board participate as individual contributors not as representatives of their organizations. Advisory Board positions are W3C member-nominated.
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AB by gender
The 11 Advisory Board positions are member-elected. The gender diversity of the AB has not changed this year. After the last election this month, the board has 4 women and 7 men for the third consecutive year.
Tabular version of AB by gender
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AB by geography
Looking at the Advisory Board by geography, we see that the geographical diversity which was heavily tilted toward North America between 1998 and 2009 steadily improved until reaching in 2018 an equal number of participants in each region. The Asian representation has expanded without regressing since 2016 and this year it is exactly the same as the Northern America's. The European representation which was more or less consistently about 1/5th since 2004 and peaked around 1/3rd in 2017 and 2018, has continued to shrink after this and has been at its lowest for the second year in a row.
Tabular version of AB by geography
W3C Technical Architecture Group
The W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG) is a special working group within the W3C, chartered with stewardship of the Web architecture, to document and build consensus around principles of Web architecture, to resolve issues involving general Web architecture brought to the TAG, and to help coordinate cross-technology architecture developments inside and outside W3C. TAG positions are W3C member-nominated or appointed by the W3C Director.
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TAG by gender
The 9 Technical Architecture Group positions are a mix of member election and appointment by the W3C Director. The group was composed only of men during its first nine years until 2011 when the TAG counted a woman during the next eight years except in 2015 where there were 2 of them. In 2019 and 2020, a third of the TAG were women. After the last election earlier this year, a non-binary member joined 3 women and 5 men in the TAG.
Tabular version of TAG by gender
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TAG by geography
Looking at the TAG by geography, the European contingent is now the strongest --a first highest for that geography. The Asia/Pacific representation has shrunk to its minimum, and the Northern American continent hit the same lowest point as in 2019.
Tabular version of TAG by geography
W3C Management
The W3C management team is responsible for the day to day coordination decisions for the team, resource allocation, and strategic planning. The diagrams use percentages because the number of persons on W3M has changed over the years.
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W3M by gender
Gender diversity of W3C management continues to be heavily tilted toward male representation. It has improved to some extent because there was a period when there was only one woman on W3M. The trend toward an increase in female representation has started in 2012. It has been rather stable since 2016, with no change for the fourth year in a row. There are 12 men and 4 women in W3C management.
Tabular version of W3M by gender
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W3M by geography
The geographical distribution in W3M is relatively good and has been trending steadily toward more balance since 2012. The Northern America contingent is still the most represented, but not as much as before. Asian representation has once again surpassed the European's as it had in 2018. It is notable that for the 4th year in a row, the European and Asian representatives amount to slightly over 50% of the management.
Tabular version of W3M by geography
Report prepared on 21 June 2021 by Coralie Mercier, Head of W3C Communications.