Why is the Port of Seattle discriminating in favor of women? We asked them directly.

The Port of Seattle is accepting applications through May 15, 2021 for a business development program which gives preference to women-owned businesses. The Port announced this in a press release that says the selected companies will “access mentorship and programming from the Seattle entrepreneurship community and increase their contracting opportunities from the Port.”

“Focusing our recovery efforts on women and minority-owned businesses who were hardest hit by the pandemic is smart policy.”

Ryan Calkins, Port of Seattle Commissioner

The Port of Seattle is a government agency. We spoke by phone today with a media officer there, seeking a rationale for prioritizing certain businesses for contracting over others based on the sex of the owners. He explained that the Port’s policies are guided by its five Commissioners, and he volunteered to send us some information.

The email we received from the media officer contained a link to a Port of Seattle webpage titled “Data Drives Equity in Economic Development.” He also invited us to respond with any questions, comments, or concerns. We examined the webpage, and then we replied with the message below. We hope to receive a response. As you will see, we are concerned that it may be a hollow assertion that data is driving the Port’s gender-informed approach to contracting.

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WIBM’s response to the Port of Seattle

Hello [Name of Media Officer],

Thanks for sending me the link to the “Data Drives Equity” page on the Port of Seattle’s website. I also appreciate your offer to connect me with other information and resources. I have read the webpage, and I have also reviewed each webpage linked from that webpage, looking for data that pertains to the Port’s decision to treat sex as a relevant characteristic for awarding contracts. I found nothing. Please correct me if I missed some data or studies.

The phrase “most impacted communities” is used under the section near the bottom of the page that says “Funding for PortGen, a program of Diversity in Contracting“. Are women a ‘most impacted community’? If so, what data is the Port looking at to know that is the case?

In the Port’s Policy Directive on Diversity Contracting, published January 2018, it says “The Port finds that… women businesses are under-represented and have been under-utilized on Port contracts.” The document does not provide numbers or statistics. It also doesn’t offer definitions of the terms ‘under-represented’ and ‘under-utilized’.

May I ask, what is the rationale for the Port of Seattle treating a business owner’s sex as a relevant characteristic for whether his/her/their company should be prioritized for contracts? What I’m getting at is that if a government agency is going to offer special opportunities for people of one sex that are denied to the other sex, they should have sound reasons for doing so. My worry is that this instance of ‘positive sexism’ is driven by ideology and gender bias, which are not sound reasons in my opinion.

I appreciate any additional information you can offer and connections to Port staff you can facilitate please.

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Port’s business accelerator is run by Find Ventures

The Port of Seattle contracted with Find Ventures to run PortGen Accelerator, the two-month business development program.

“The PortGen Accelerator will ensure the success of women and minority-owned small business enterprises by supporting their expansion plans and providing participating companies access to resources and opportunities for contracting. We will take deep dives into financing, customer acquisition, and growth strategies to expand the possibility to obtain new opportunities for everyone.”

Courtney Law, Innovation Director at Find Ventures

It has become somewhat common for organizations in Washington to explicitly discriminate in favor of women and girls. Read our post about Pacific Science Center offering girls-only summer camps.