Why We’re Supporting WP Includes  ## Metadata - Author: [[Hannah Terrill]] - Full Title: Why We’re Supporting WP Includes - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: [WordPress, DEI, Mentorship] author: Hannah Terrill source: Human Made reference: [https://humanmade.com/life-at-human-made/why-were-supporting-wp-includes/] date created: 2025-10-23 00:00 --- # 🏷️ Title: Why we’re supporting WP Includes ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📚 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### 🔗 References - Include links cited in or relevant to the article. ## 📝 Summary - What happened: Human Made publicly supports WP Includes’ Women in WordPress Mentorship Scheme to increase women’s leadership representation. - Why it matters: Addresses systemic barriers (“broken rung,” experience gaps, harassment) and underrepresentation in WordPress leadership. - Key stakeholders: Women in the WordPress ecosystem, WP Includes, WordPress companies, Human Made. - Risks and tradeoffs: Requires sustained resources, accountability, and culture change; potential perception of tokenism if not executed with metrics. - Bottom line: Concrete commitments to mentorship, visibility, and internal advancement to make gender equality the norm. ## 📖 Main Content - Core arguments: Diverse leadership strengthens the WordPress ecosystem; current gender disparity is systemic, not incidental. Mentorship, networks, and visibility can shift pipelines and outcomes. - Context/definitions: - “Broken rung”: first-step promotion gaps that stall careers. - Representation: women leaders at company, agency partner, and board levels. - Uncertainties: Pace of change; scalability across global regions; data refresh cadence. ### 🗒️ Notes - “A thriving, diverse, and inclusive WordPress ecosystem is stronger for everyone.” - 2024 data highlights underrepresentation and barriers (first-line manager promotions, experience disparities, safety concerns). - WP Includes focuses on mentoring, networks, and leadership visibility. - Human Made commits to addressing disparity, activating support into senior roles, removing barriers, and showcasing women leaders. - Call to action: Learn more and get involved in the mentorship programme. ## 📚 References - WP Includes — Women in WordPress Mentorship: https://wp-includes.com/ - Five for the Future (WordPress): https://wordpress.org/five-for-the-future/ - WordPress VIP Agency Partners: https://wpvip.com/partners/ - Fortune 500 women CEOs (context): https://fortune.com/ranking/fortune-500-women-ceos/ - Human Made announcement: https://humanmade.com/life-at-human-made/why-were-supporting-wp-includes/ ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - Paragraph A: Human Made argues that industry-wide gender inequality limits leadership diversity in WordPress, and backs WP Includes’ mentorship to change that. - Paragraph B: Data shows very few women lead WordPress orgs; systemic issues like the broken rung and harassment drive the gap. ## 📰 Newsletter - Human Made is backing WP Includes’ Women in WordPress Mentorship to boost women’s leadership across the ecosystem. Expect mentorship matching, stronger networks, and more visible role models. If your org pledges to [Five for the Future](https://wordpress.org/five-for-the-future/), consider allocating hours to mentorship. Explore [WP Includes’ programme](https://wp-includes.com/) and review where your team can remove “broken rung” barriers. Resource picks: [WordPress VIP Agency Partners](https://wpvip.com/partners/) landscape; Fortune’s snapshot of [women CEOs](https://fortune.com/ranking/fortune-500-women-ceos/). ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Publish a mentorship playbook and office hours; track mentee promotions and retention. - Run leadership-path workshops; pair demos with sponsor credits for mentees. - Add examples/templates for leadership goals in docs; quickstart for “first-line manager” skills. - Campaign: “From contributor to leader” funnel; attribute by mentee outcomes. - Community: Code of conduct refresh; pulse surveys on inclusion quarterly. - Align cross-project feedback loops; share anonymized metrics. #### OSPO - Charter: contribution and leadership pathways; decision rights documented. - Compliance: add DEIB checks into review/training cadence. - Security: safe-reporting channels; embargo guidance for mentors/mentees. - SBOM ownership map with inclusive maintainer rotations. - Developer support hours for underrepresented contributors. - Fund upstream mentorship MoUs; quarterly KPI reports. #### Community - Maintainers: roadmap clinics; inclusive release roles; shadowing. - Contributors: first-issue rotations; pairing sessions. - Sponsors: publish impact reports on mentorship outcomes. - Ecosystem: joint incident drills with inclusive comms protocols. #### WordPress - Core: triage rotations that include mentees; promotion criteria transparency. - Core Performance: mentorship bounties; metric dashboards. - Core AI: responsible AI guardrails; inclusive evaluation sets. - Core Program Team: monthly coordination with WP Includes; retros. - Mobile/Playground: labs for mentee-led demos; reproducible bug clinics. - Community/Training: speaker mentorship, lesson paths to leadership. - Marketing/Support/Design/Docs: role-model spotlights; examples-first patterns. - Photos/TV/Polyglots/Accessibility/Meta/CLI/Hosting/Tide/Openverse/Themes/Plugins: targeted sprints; mentoring tracks; provenance and translation coverage. #### The WPCC - Programs: microgrants, stipends for maintainers; fellowship tracks. - Projects: governance clinics; documentation sprints with mentees. - Funding: matched grants tied to milestones; public ledgers. ### FAIR - Independence: sign releases; provenance logs for mentorship outputs. - Policies: transparent funding; sunset clauses; anti-capture covenants. - Governance artifacts: repeatable charters, agreements, scorecards. ## 🧪 Hypotheses - Mentorship increases women’s promotion rates to first-line manager within 12–18 months. - Visible role-model features raise women’s leadership applications by ≥25%. - Companies with mentorship see higher retention of women by ≥15% YoY. - Inclusive triage rituals increase mentee contribution acceptance rates. - Public accountability reports correlate with faster leadership parity progress. ### 📊 Methodology - Quasi-experimental: mentor vs. matched control cohorts; track promotions/retention. - Interrupted time series: application rates pre/post role-model campaigns. - Survey panels: experience/safety deltas; validated inclusion scales. - Repo analytics: contribution acceptance/lead roles over time. ### ❓ Questions - Which interventions most effectively fix the “broken rung” in WordPress orgs? - How does psychological safety mediate mentorship outcomes? - What metrics best reflect leadership pipeline health? ### 🔮 Future Research - Global/regional variance in barriers and solutions. - Longitudinal effects of sponsor vs. mentor models. - Impact of public funding on sustainability of mentorship. ### 💡 Implications - Practice: formal mentorship+sponsorship; publish advancement criteria. - Policy: anti-harassment enforcement; safe-reporting protocols. - Security: trust channels for vulnerable reporters. - Education: leadership curricula for first-time managers. - Funding: tie grants to parity KPIs and reporting. ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment - Reading level estimate: Flesch-Kincaid Grade ≈ 9–10. #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: simple headings and lists. - Improve: leadership pipeline diagrams; before/after metrics charts. #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: none. - Improve: 3-minute audio summary; mentor interview clips. #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: definitions (broken rung), examples. - Improve: glossary and analogie - Summary: We're firmly behind WP Includes and its mission to empower women in WordPress leadership and foster inclusivity. - URL: https://humanmade.com/life-at-human-made/why-were-supporting-wp-includes/ Symbol, Text, Business Card At Human Made, we believe that a thriving, diverse, and inclusive WordPress ecosystem is stronger for everyone. Yet, the reality is clear: gender inequality remains a systemic issue across our industry. Too few women are in leadership roles at WordPress companies, and the path to leadership is often obstructed by barriers that should no longer exist. That’s why we’re proud to support **[WP Includes](https://wpincludes.me/)** and their Women in WordPress Mentorship Scheme; an initiative dedicated to increasing representation of women in senior and board-level roles across WordPress businesses. #### Why representation matters Gender disparity in leadership isn’t just an abstract problem; it’s something that affects real people, careers, and companies every day. The 2024 [WP Includes report](https://wpincludes.me/the-gender-equality-in-wordpress-businesses-report/) revealed that women are significantly underrepresented across the WordPress ecosystem: **4%** **of the 200** companies pledging to support Five for the Future are led by women. ****5**** **out of 69** WordPress VIP Agency Partners have female leaders. ****10.4%**** **of Fortune 500 companies** are led by women—already too low, but WordPress still lags behind. This underrepresentation doesn’t happen by chance. The report uncovered systemic barriers: * A “broken rung” effect, where women are overlooked for first-line managerial roles, preventing them from moving up. * Widespread disparities in workplace experience; while men often feel supported and fairly compensated, nearly half of women report barriers to success due to gender. * Harassment, bullying, and discrimination that disproportionately affect women, with almost a quarter of women nearly a quarter of women experiencing it at work, compared to just 4% of men. One in three women reported not feeling safe enough to speak out. These challenges show us how much work we still need to do as an industry. #### What WP Includes is doing WP Includes is tackling these challenges head-on by: * **Mentoring women** within the WordPress ecosystem to support their next career steps. * **Building a supportive network** of mentors and mentees. * **Sharing leadership opportunities** and ensuring visibility for women leaders who can inspire others. The mentorship scheme is not just about helping individuals—it’s about reshaping the future of WordPress businesses so that boardrooms and leadership teams reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. #### Our commitment at Human Made As a supporter of WP Includes, we’re making the following commitments: * **Acknowledge and address gender disparity** wherever it exists in our organisation. * **Activating support** for women into senior roles when opportunities become available. * **Support and remove barriers** to women advancing in their careers at Human Made. * **Create opportunities to showcase women leaders** within our company, ensuring they act as role models for future leaders. By partnering with WP Includes, we’re holding ourselves accountable to these principles and ensuring we play an active role in shaping a more inclusive future. #### Looking ahead The health and sustainability of the WordPress ecosystem depends on diverse leadership. If we want to continue to innovate, collaborate, and grow as a community, then we must ensure that women have equal opportunities to lead and succeed. At Human Made, we’re proud to stand alongside WP Includes in making this vision a reality. Together, we can break down barriers, build stronger pathways to leadership, and create a WordPress ecosystem where gender equality isn’t an aspiration, it’s the norm. **Learn more about [WP Includes and their mentorship programme](https://wpincludes.me/the-programme/) and find out how you or your company can get involved.**, Why We’re Supporting WP Includes, Hannah Terrill, 01k88c9nhr2cg6wrtv5pebkpxr.