[Linux-aus] Linux Australia Code of Conduct - revised draft

[Donna Benjamin]

On Sun, 2011-11-27 at 17:31 +1100, elliott-brennan wrote:
> http://www.volunteer.vic.gov.au/resources-for-volunteer-organisations/best-practice-toolkit/manage-your-organisation/policies-and-procedures/sample-policies

Thanks Patrick - this is a great resource indeed. I just learned
Victorian law was amended last year, and now applies to volunteers as
well as paid staff.

"Under the new legislation, every organisation with volunteer workers is
required to make sure volunteers know sexual harassment is not OK.

Whether you're incorporated or not, big or small, funded or broke,
you'll need to do what you can to create a culture in which sexual
harassment is not acceptable in any form. This includes setting up
processes to respond appropriately if it does happen.

Organisations that do this will in most cases meet their
responsibilities under the legislation.

But if you turn a blind eye and harassment occurs, the organisation and
the people in charge may be considered liable."

http://www.volunteeringvictoria.com.au/publications/doc_download/335-eoa-information-pack 

I also ended up on the Australian human rights website...

"Taking a safety analogy, we know that safety cultures take decades to
build. ...

In safety cultures, there is a belief that every injury is preventable
and accidents are not met with an attempt to excuse...

Consider what our organisations would look like if gender balance was
ingrained in our culture the way safety is. We wouldn’t shy away from a
'zero defect' type of goal. We would not tolerate behaviours that were
careless or inconsistent with a culture of gender balance...

We would be open about failure—we would conduct challenging reviews of
our mistakes to ensure we didn’t repeat them. We would operate with more
flexibility."

http://www.humanrights.gov.au/sex_discrimination/publication/mcc/chapter4_diversity_advantage.html

Culture is key.

We are trying to change the culture.  

The past incidents at our conferences have not been as extreme and
unwelcome as at others...  and for this we can be proud and thankful.
But we are part of a global community, and can help in the overall
culture change that is required.

Just as Australia and New Zealand led the world in giving women the
vote, we can show leadership here too.  We already are. LCA has the
highest percentage of women speakers in 2012 we've ever had.  Many of
the women speaking are aware this community values them and is actively
seeking to include them.

Selena Deckleman wrote a fantastic blog post about the cultural change
we're embracing.

http://www.chesnok.com/daily/2011/07/23/getting-ready-for-oscon-code-of-conduct-and-cultural-change/

- Donna

-- 
Donna Benjamin - Executive Director
Creative Contingencies - http://cc.com.au
ph +61 3 9326 9985 - mob +61 418 310 414

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