So where ARE those darn women at tech industry events?

I've been commenting pretty vocally about the issue of lack of diversity - and lack of women - on the podium of tech industry events for over a decade. The recent groundswell in blog posts about this issue is...sad but necessary. Still.

Here is the content to two of my comments and the posts that compelled me to speak up yet again.

Women Snubbed in Top Ten Speakers List, Industry in General

by Geoff Livingston

My comment...

I am once again floored that this is the same discussion we had in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999… and let’s not even talk about how bad it has been since 2000.

As always, we’ve come a long way and haven’t even taken a baby step at the same time.

In the 1990s, I attracted a lot of media attention because I started the first woman owned Internet company in Manhattan. But could I get a top speaking gig at a tech (or business) forum? You’ve got to be kidding! I was relegated mostly to the women’s conferences, the women’s business schools and women’s universities, the women’s organizations, the women’s tracks.

Today, I’ve been rejected over and over at conferences when I want to speak about topics OTHER than women’s issues online. I’ve been invited to speak at non-gender specific tech events but am asked to speak about reaching women. Yes, this is what I used to do in the 90s, but today I’m less focused on women’s tech issues and more focused on deep analysis of Internet strategy and the integration of new tools and transformational ways technology has affected the way we communicate and market over the last decade.

When Newsweek listed me as one of their 50 People Who Matter Most on the Internet in 1995, I was 1 of 5 women on the list. When I called the magazine pissed off that they didn’t include more women, they said they “couldn’t find them.” Bullshit, I told them, all they had to do was ask any one of the 5 women on their list, and we’d lead them to amazing women to add.

When I founded Webgrrls in 1995 and had women-only Webgrrls events, I was criticized for “ghettoizing” women. “Do we really need events for, by and with women only? Yes, I argued, because every other forum in technology that is not gender-specific is by default all or predominantly male. I wonder today if I didn’t contribute to treating women as an “afterthought.”

I absolutely love the New Media Boys Club with good human beings like CC Chapman and Chris Brogan. But I’m still pretty annoyed that even I am hard-pressed to find women who are being celebrated in that same way. I wonder if it is partly our own fault as women: constantly apologizing for our achievements, tip-toeing around self-promotion, cringing when another woman puts herself out there boldly (”who does she think she is? Bitch!”)

I don’t have strong answers or ideas for changing something that is so entrenched but do think that continuing the dialogue openly between all of us (yes, guys, you are part of the problem AND the solution), we can make genuine change.

I’d like to think that the New Media Boys Club is made up of a new wave of males who are so secure with their own identities and place in this industry that they always reach out to others consciously - both women and men - who deserve to be in the spotlight as well. I know CC Chapman has referred to me in his podcast and recommended me as a speaker, a seemingly easy thing to do but it takes thinking about it first, broadening one’s network, then being a true and generous connector.

This isn’t a call for “affirmative action”-type guidelines. This is a call for a greater awareness of the imbalances and a conscious generosity in spreading the “wealth” and opportunities around.

Where are the Women in Tech and Social Media?
BY FC Expert Blogger Allyson Kapin

My comment...

Allyson, ditto what Mayra said. Thank you for continuing the ongoing conversation that I helped to start...oh, about 13 years ago when I started Cybergrrl, Inc. and Webgrrls International. I'm one of the women in tech who has been regularly rejected by Web 2.0 Summit since I made my "comeback" after 7 years hiatus from the Internet industry.(http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/2002/01/16/maney.htm) I've actually been accused (mostly by other women) of being TOO aggressive in my pursuit of a place at the panel table and podium. But there are several things I try to do - and I encourage other speakers - women AND MEN - to do:

1. When you are invited to speak at an event, examine the balance of diversity. If you see a lacking, provide the organizer with some personal contacts to help them fill out the program - with a pointed statement about how you'd like to see more diversity at the events where you speak.

2. If you are accepted as a speaker after submitting your proposal, do the same assessing and making referrals to quality, qualified, diverse speakers.

3. If your panel idea is accepted for an event, assess the diversity on your panel and without using tokenism, expand the gender and color to expand the voices in the conversation.

4. Keep the conversation going. The more everyone talks about this, the more we can all impact the diversity of our industry and industry events.

This is not a "fringe" and "just a feminist" issue. This is about making sure we properly reflect the diverse landscape of the world around us and not allow the high-tech, high-growth industries to be the domain of one color and one gender.

What do YOU think about the continuing saga of the representation of women in tech event?