MUSINGS FROM THE GENDER-BALANCE POLICE
Thanks to you we get pretty regular “alerts” to the existence of specific all-male panels. Often these are promoted via social media and email and one of our circle simply forwards the missive to us. No comment necessary. The unspoken message is “Do something!” Pre-event promotion gives us a chance to reach out and present Innovation Women as a resource and an option for the event manager. Without embarrassing anyone or throwing around accusations – just being helpful.
Sometimes there is a response and we’re able to “make a sale”, placing one of our speakers. Sometimes the event manager will ignore us and blunder onward, maybe to get “outed” on social media or chastised by attendees. Other times, there is nothing said. Why? Perhaps because that particular event manager has “earned a bye”. Maybe this is an aberration. Maybe it’s unusual. Maybe last week there was an all-female panel, or months and months of gender-balanced or gender-blind panels
But this isn’t often the case. In fact, a recent “alert” we received from a loyal reader led us to a full on all-male EVENT. A half-day all-male event. In an industry where there are plenty of women. And, in checking in with those in the know…they aren’t surprised.
Back to those alerts from you, our Innovation Women, Event Managers and Loyal Readers – keep sending us information about all-male panels. We’ll keep on working ’em. And maybe it’s time to be a little less polite with some people.
