CAS Releases New Spotlight on Diversity 2020 Infographic Detailing Membership Demographics Over Time
As part of the CAS Strategic Approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) adopted by the Board of Directors in September 2020, the CAS has committed to setting concrete goals and maintaining transparency and accountability on progress on our DE&I initiatives. To this end, we have built a set of detailed demographic metrics for CAS members and candidates, designed to help us understand the current state of diversity in the CAS, set goals, and track changes over time.
Today, the CAS releases its final entry in its Spotlight on Diversity 2020 series – a new infographic detailing membership demographics over time.
This infographic, developed with data as of June 2020, provides a breakdown of CAS members worldwide by Gender and Race/Ethnicity and the period in which they attained membership.
The percent of women among CAS members gradually increased from 23% of new members in the 1980’s to 35% for new members in the last five years. However, there has been no upward trend in representation of women since the 2006 to 2010 period. The CAS has set goals to increase the representation of women to 50% of new members in 2031 to 2035.
The racial/ethnic mix of members has changed dramatically over time, with 91% of new members identifying as Non-Hispanic White in the 1980’s, to 63% of new members in the last five years. That change is largely driven by an increase in the percentage of Asian members, both in the United States and Worldwide, from 2% in the 1980’s to 31% of new members in the last five years. Indigenous, Black and Latinx members have remained significantly underrepresented from the 1980’s to 2020. The CAS has set goals to increase the representation of these groups among new members in 2031 to 2035 to 1%, 10% and 16%, respectively.
While the goals that have been set are specific to new members in the United States, the CAS intends to develop best practices that can be adapted to diversity goals appropriate in other locations in the near future.
Check out the other infographics released previously in the Spotlight on Diversity 2020 series.
CAS members are encouraged to help develop and execute initiatives to reach these goals. To get involved or stay informed, visit community.casact.org, search for Diversity Impact Group (DIG), and select JOIN. DIG is an online community for sharing information with members via email on low commitment/high impact DE&I-related volunteer opportunities as they arise.
Do you have suggestions for future information to be included in the Spotlight on Diversity? Send them to Mallika Bender at mbender@casact.org.
