About ACM's Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion in Computing
The ACM community encompasses everyone who works in computing or applies computing in another domain, from educators and researchers to software and hardware developers, system engineers, project managers, and data scientists. Because its community is so broad, diversity and inclusion are central to ACM’s mission.
Although the two often go hand-in-hand, diversity and inclusion are not the same thing. Diversity is achieved when the individuals around the table are drawn from a variety of backgrounds and experience, leading to a breadth of viewpoints, reasoning, and approaches (also referred to as “the who”). Inclusion is achieved when the environment is characterized by behaviors that welcome and embrace diversity (“the how”).
ACM fosters diversity and inclusion with its open-door approach. Members and non-members alike are welcomed to ACM’s workshops, conferences, publications, and awards program. Through its range of membership programs, members can choose to participate in the global organization, regional or local-area groups, and/or Special Interest Groups. ACM activities support computing communities of all sizes in both academic and commercial environments, and around the globe. A spectrum of resources and activities address every career stage, from K-12 student through seasoned professional.
ACM's Diversity & Inclusion Entities
ACM invests in a number of programs that focus specifically on different aspects of diversity and inclusion. Some examples are:
- Regional Councils in Europe, India, and China focus on the particular needs of computing communities in different parts of the world
- The ACM Code of Ethics and the Policy Against Harassment at ACM Activities are overseen by ACM’s Committee on Professional Ethics
- ACM‐W, the Community of Support for Women in Computing, advocates internationally for full engagement of women in all aspects of computing
- Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing provides a supportive networking environment for under‐represented groups in computing and information technology fields
- CSTA, the Computer Science Teachers Association addresses how K-12 teachers can broaden the pipeline of the future computing workforce
- ACM is a long-time supporter of AnitaB.org’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing and of the CRA-W Grad Cohort for Women program
To ensure that its governance and activities involve people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, ACM has created a cross-cutting group that coordinates and promotes diversity and inclusion efforts throughout the organization.
