Executive Board Statement on Anti-Asian Violence
March 23, 2021
The Executive Board of the Division on Women and Crime condemns the recent acts of violence and hate speech against Asian Americans and the Asian community. There have been nearly 3,800 reported incidents during the pandemic, and women made up 68% of the victims. Hate and bias-related crimes have no place in our community, and any attack on Asians and AsianAmericans and on women is an attack on all. In recent years, Asian and Asian American people have endured a normalization of violence with women facing increasing vulnerability due to sexism, racism, xenophobia, and classism. The Executive Board stands in solidarity with the Asian communities and with women. The normalization of violence against women is what many of us have worked to change within our careers.
We are proud of the contributions made by Asian and Asian American members of our society. As we make progress toward inclusion within our own organization, we lend our support to Asian and Asian American colleagues who continue to advocate for change. We need more voices to ensure our efforts toward inclusion are done accurately. As our society works toward healing on so many fronts, we urge our community to treat each other with kindness and respect, and denounce all acts of hatred.
Executive Board of the DWC
DWC Executive Board Statement on Inclusivity
March 8, 2021
The Executive Board of the Division of Women and Crime (DWC) denounces all oppressions (including, but not limited to racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism and ableism), oppressive language, behavior, or publications that perpetuate and/or uphold structural inequalities. We disavow discrimination based on disability, socioeconomic status, sexuality, age, education, race/ethnicity, nationality, citizenship status, religious affiliation or gender identity or expression. The Executive Board aspires for the DWC to be an intersectional and antiracist feminist space. We acknowledge that we are not there yet and achieving this goal will require sustained resources, time commitments, and critical reflection to move toward a more inclusive, intersectional feminist organization. As a starting point, we want to use this statement to acknowledge and address the problems of racism, cisgenderism, transphobia, and heterosexism as central concerns raised by membership.
First, the Executive Board of the DWC affirms the ongoing need for equity, inclusion and racial justice within the Division and, more broadly, the ASC. The Executive Board commits to ongoing and sustained conversations among a diversity of BIPOC, Queer and Trans scholars. It is important to both listen to these scholars and ensure they are part of the decision-making structures that can affect the necessary changes. While there have been some steps in the right direction, there remains a need for deeper engagement across the DWC membership that is inclusive of a more diverse set of voices and experiences. For example, there has been a lack of meaningful representation of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ scholars in positions of leadership. We are committed to pushing beyond conventional diversity and inclusion efforts that have yet to produce the scale of change needed to truly uproot the white supremacy, white nationalism, racism, heterosexism, and transphobia woven into academia and into our own history as a Division, so we may achieve social justice in the DWC.
Further, we are a trans-inclusive organization, and the Executive Board acknowledges and condemns discrimination and microaggressions against trans and non-binary individuals in all domains. Succinctly, trans women are women, and trans women’s rights are human rights. We reject any writings whose argument or foundation claims that trans women are not women and should not have equal human rights.
The Executive Board is committed to making the changes necessary to achieve an inclusive existence. To this end, the Executive Board has begun the following activities:
• Reconvene the Constitutional Revision Committee with the task of ensuring inclusivity in the structure of the DWC, including in all Committees
• Ensure that leadership positions have a balance of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ members
• Task the Diversity & Inclusion Committee with oversight of inclusivity in representation of the Executive Board and Committee composition and mandate
• Ensure transparency of all work of the Executive Board and review the scope of the DWC Chair to make unilateral decisions
• Create a Feminist Criminology Editorial Board Committee tasked with recommending policies and procedures regarding the selection of an inclusive Editorial Board for our journal (this is the contractual responsibility of the DWC as Sponsor)
• Ensure that all DWC members have a voice by creating outlets such as Town Halls and Casual Conversations
• Ask that each Executive Board release a statement of inclusivity to the membership at the start of each Chair term along with their proposed activities
We invite the Division membership to meaningfully engage with the Executive Board by participating in a public Town Hall on (Date TBA) hosted by the DWC where we hope to discuss additional concrete steps that will be taken by the Division to acknowledge and redress racism, cisgenderism and trans-exclusivity in our organization. We are also committed to increased transparency between the Executive Board and the DWC membership. We view the Town Hall as an opportunity for us to listen to the concerns of the members and solicit additional suggestions for how we can improve.
Executive Board of the DWC