Code
of
Conduct

The InnovateHer Community is a large network for InnovateHer Schools, Partners, Mentors and Members.

This code of conduct outlines our expectations for all attendees or organisers of our events in the adult community. We have a separate code of conduct for our students but we share the same values across all of our communities.

This code details steps for reporting unacceptable behaviour. Organisers will enforce this throughout any event we host whether that be online or in person. We expect those attending and taking part in our events to help ensure a safe environment for everybody.

We want everyone to have the best experience possible at an InnovateHer event, Community Learning Workshop or anything we are responsible for hosting like our Summit in 2019. To make this happen here is a guide on how to use our community features, including our community slack, eventbrite, facebook and instagram groups.

Bring out the best in others around you and be kind to others

Our key values relating to this are passioncouragecollaboration and integrity. There will be those different to you, we are all different. We ask you to be respectful of other people’s experiences, views, opinions and beliefs and be kind to each other.

We will listen and learn from each other if we hold this at the core of our events.

Our community is an international, multicultural and ever-changing space. We encourage participation at events but we must always keep it professional. There are key things that we have no tolerance for:

Sexual language and imagery

Are not appropriate for any event. Event participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the event at the discretion of the conference organisers.

Harassment
The organisers of our events are committed to a harassment-free environment for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion or work experience. We do not tolerate harassment of event participants in any form.
Harassment includes, but it not limited to:

  • Verbal comments that reinforce social structures of domination related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion or work experience.
  • Deliberate intimidation, stalking or following
  • Harassing photography or recording
  • Sustained disruption of a panel or other events
  • Uninvited physical contact
  • Unwelcome sexual attention
  • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviours

Anything that makes someone feel uncomfortable could be deemed harassment. For more information about what constitutes harassment and examples, please refer to OpenCon’s Code of Conduct in Brief, and the Gathering for Open Source Hardware’s examples of behaviour.

Enforcement

Participants (including organisers) asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in harassing behaviour, event organisers retain the right to take any actions to keep the event a welcoming environment for all participants. This includes warning the offender or removing the offender from the event.

Event organisers may take action to redress anything designed to disrupt, or with the clear impact of disrupting, the event or making the environment hostile for any participants.

Reporting

If someone makes you or anyone else feel unsafe or unwelcome, please report it as soon as possible. Harassment and other Code of Conduct violations reduce the value of our event for everyone. We want you to be happy at our event. People like you make our event and the InnovateHer Community a better place.

You can make a report either personally or anonymously. All reports will be handled with discretion and care.

Anonymous Report

You can make an anonymous report to hello@innovateher.co.uk
We can’t follow up on an anonymous report with you directly, but we will fully investigate it and take whatever action is necessary to prevent a recurrence.

Personal report

You can make a personal report directly in person to the following organising team members:

  • Leanna Atherton – Corporate Community Manager – leanne@innovateher.co.uk
  • Chelsea Slater – Co-Founder – chelsea@innovateher.co.uk

When taking a personal report, we will ensure you are safe and cannot be overheard. They may involve other organisers to ensure your report is managed properly. Once safe, we’ll ask you to tell us about what happened. This can be upsetting, but we’ll handle it respectfully, and you can bring someone to support you. You won’t be asked to confront anyone and all reports will be handled with discretion.

In your report, please do your best to include:

  • Your contact information
  • Identifying information (e.g. names, nicknames, pseudonyms) of the participant who has violated the Code of Conduct
  • The behaviour that was in violation
  • The approximate time of the behaviour (if different than the time the report was made)
  • If possible, where the Code of Conduct violation happened
  • The circumstances surrounding the incident
  • Other people involved in the incident
  • If you believe the incident is ongoing, please let us know
  • If there is a publicly available record (e.g. mailing list record), please include a link
  • Any additional helpful information

After you file a report, a representative will contact you personally to review the incident, follow up with any additional questions and make a decision as to how to respond. If the person who is harassing you is part of the response team, they will recuse themselves from handling your incident. We will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims of abuse.

Acknowledgements

This Code of Conduct is based on the example anti-harassment policy from the Geek Feminism wiki, created by the Ada Initiative and other volunteers (CC0), the OpenCon 2018 Code of Conduct (CC-BY OpenCon organisers, SPARC and Right to Research Coalition) and the SuperHi Learning Platform (Member Community Code of Conduct).