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During the 2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM24), The Oceanography Society’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee hosted a town hall on “Scientific Societies’ Roles in Building Inclusive Communities.” The town hall aimed to assess ongoing efforts to improve belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (BAJEDI) within ocean sciences, promote community building and discussions surrounding BAJEDI topics, and highlight the role of scientific societies in equity efforts. Here, we summarize the resultant communal discussions, which focused on effective models for increasing participation in ocean sciences, how to make ocean science careers more accessible, and strategies to build a more equitable community culture. Discussions highlighted several professional societies working to increase BAJEDI within the field and offered tangible action items to increase accessibility and equity at all career stages. An optional survey was distributed to OSM24 attendees to assess their lived experiences. Survey results highlighted that although knowledge of BAJEDI issues and training opportunities have increased, bullying and discrimination are still common. We recommend action items, including increased standardization and public accessibility of demographic data, to continue improving BAJEDI within ocean sciences. 

Gender equity, providing for full participation of people of all genders in the oceanographic workforce, is an important goal for the continued success of the oceanographic enterprise. Here, we describe historical obstructions to gender equity; assess recent progress and the current status of gender equity in oceanography by examining quantitative measures of participation, achievement, and recognition; and review activities to improve gender equity. We find that women receive approximately half the oceanography PhDs in many parts of the world and are increasing in parity in earlier levels of academic employment. However, continued progress toward gender parity is needed, as reflected by metrics such as first-authored publications, funded grants, honors, and conference speaker invitations. Finally we make recommendations for the whole oceanographic community to continue to work together to create a culture where oceanographers of all genders can thrive, including eliminating harassment, reexamining selection and evaluation procedures, and removing structural inequities.