All-female speaker line-ups - good or bad?
Another industry conference has announced an all-female speaker line-up, it's starting to feel like a trend for 2020.
Grammarly asked me if I wanted to be more diplomatic with the next sentence. I don't.
I hate this.
It goes against everything I feel about diversity. Diversity is about including everyone. It’s not just about gender.
We ran a workshop with Turn the Talk last year to encourage and support more people to speak at conferences. We had a diverse set of people attend, including women and men. What message does this send out to all of those men that participated in that event? It says they are not wanted.
The counter-argument will be that extreme measures are needed. We are still in a place where we are struggling to get a fair representation of women at conferences, board level and in the trade media. Yet an all-women speaker line-up is lazy. Conference organisers should be finding the best talent to speak, and they should be ensuring they have a diverse range of speakers. Yes, it is hard, but if you want to be a conference that represents the industry, then I’m sorry, but this is your job.
An all-women conference doesn’t solve the gender diversity problem. If the only way to get more women on stage is to create an environment which only allows women on stage, I think we’ve lost our way. While it may get some publicity for the conference, I don’t think it moves the diversity agenda, if anything I think it harms the movement as it promotes exclusion, not inclusion.
Mergers & Acquisitions team, Volaris Group, Kinetic Software portfolio. A permanent home for software companies.
5yMy first reaction was entirely in agreement with yours. But then I saw women put themselves forward, when they otherwise wouldn’t have because they wrongly assumed there were better, more qualified people to step up and speak. So now I’m left wondering if maybe a thumb on the balance to help women appreciate the value that they bring to the table, isn’t such a bad thing. I don’t think this is a long term strategy but maybe an opportunity to allow women to consider volunteering will help. Maybe, next time they will be less concerned about competing with male counterparts for a spot on the panel. But diversity still needs to prevail. If it ends up being a panel of 35yr old white women, I’ll be disappointed. It’s not a long term solution but it might just be the kick that imposter syndrome needs.
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5yCouldn't agree more... you either judge people for who they are based on the value they can bring, and with that... you're genuinely 'blind' to anything such as race, gender etc. Or... you judge people on 'what' they are. It's one or the other. Everyone of these events, awards or 'initiatives' targeted at a singular group, in real terms, creates and further reinforces divisions in society. They might be a nice idea 'in theory', but the reality is that they are continually reinforcing divisions. Every time. I really think that the organisers of these events and initiatives need to stop being blind to the fact that actually, there are undesirable outcomes to what they're doing. What they also do is devalue the achievements of people in those singled out groups who've achieved on their own merits, as opposed to winning only because a large section of potential entrants were purposefully excluded. Here's a crazy thought.. they could switch to choosing people PURELY on the value they can bring in what ever form that is. And from a marketing angle that would be very strong... standing up and being able to say that everyone was chosen purely on their own merit, which in turn has been very well earned by each person involved.
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5yYep, you don’t promote diversity by exclusion.
Founder and Director at *Acquire
5yI couldn’t agree more with you, Helen. Put the best people in the best positions, be it on a board or a panel, regardless of gender. Excluding men is just as bad as excluding women - two wrongs don’t make a right. Balance and diversity is important, and that’s what is going to drive the industry forward.
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5yI agree with you Helen, I dont think it's the right way either. Tough one to crack but exclusion is what everyone is fighting against surely?!