Introduction to the Special Section on Equity and Inclusion in Primatology

Abstract

Ensuring that our discipline is accessible and welcoming to all, and that we create an environment where everyone feels supported, respected, and included is important for primatologists, primatology, and primates. In addition to avoiding the negative effects that inequities and barriers to inclusion have on the primatologists who experience them, attention to diverse voices, perspectives, and expertise, arising from a diversity of experiences, enriches science and informs successful conservation action. The Roundtable on Diversity organized by Christopher A. Schmitt at the joint meeting of the International Primatological Society (IPS) and the American Society of Primatologists in Chicago in 2016 (Schmitt 2016) identified barriers to inclusion in primatology and proposed measures to work toward addressing them. Following the roundtable, the IPS formed an ad hoc committee on diversity to lead the society in becoming more inclusive, and welcoming, representing, supporting, and serving all the primatological community. Ad hoc committees are chaired by IPS officers, in this case Joanna M. Setchell until 2018 when her term as Vice President for Research ended, and now Patricia Izar, current Vice President for Education. Building on the first roundtable in 2016, the IPS ad hoc committee on diversity hosted a roundtable on diversity and inclusion in primatology at the 2018 IPS congress in Nairobi, organized by Joanna M. Setchell, Hebert H. Covert, Laura C. Loyola, Susan M. Cheyne, Mary Blair, Riashna Sithaldeen, Rachel Ikemeh, Michelle Brown, and Janette Wallis (Setchell et al. 2018). The roundtable aimed to further explore opportunities and challenges for diversity and inclusion in primatology and to inform future IPS actions. One outcome of the discussions at the 2018 roundtable was to recommend that the IPS create a new standing committee for equity and inclusion, chaired by a new vice president of the society. Doing so would recognize that the inequities faced by members are ongoing issues that cannot be addressed by a short-term ad hoc committee. This proposal, ultimately, led to a vote in favor of amending the IPS Byelaws to establish a International Journal of Primatology https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-019-00115-9