The Pledge

“At a public conference I won’t serve on a panel of two people or more unless there is at least one woman on the panel, not including the Chair.”

Make The Pledge

At a public conference I won’t serve on a panel of two people or more unless there is at least one woman on the panel, not including the Chair

**your signature**

BCC yourself

2,346 signatures

Frequently asked questions

What happens if we have tried to find women but there is nobody available?

Try harder. I’ll be happy to suggest some women who would be much better than me. You may need to organise your conference a little earlier to be sure of getting women on your panels.

What happens if a woman drops out and we end up with a men-only panel?

There are many brilliant women – please find someone else to take her place.

What if a woman drops out at very short notice?

I get it: shit happens. You could cover yourself by planning to have two women on the panel (gosh!). But if I’ve agreed to be on a panel I won’t let you down if something genuinely unforseen happens. (But if this means a male-only panel, you’ll have to forgive me in advance for the fact that I am going to tease you about this in the meeting.)

Organising conferences is hard enough already?

The Gendered Conference Campaign has some great advice for conference organisers.

What else can we do?

Keep drawing attention to the issue. If you are at a conference with male-only panels, call it out.
Audit your events and keep track of the trends
Be mindful about promoting women through social media

Who has taken the pledge?

Latest Signatures
2,346	Ms Krishna Patel
2,345	Mr Ben Johnson	Johns Hopkins University SOM
2,344	Ms Anna Marie Young	Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
2,343	Ms Dana Goplerud	Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
2,342	Mr Rohit Thapa	Learning Links Foundation
2,341	Dr. Vishal Dev Shastri	ALIVE & THRIVE
2,340	Miss Sarah Quinn	London School of Economics
2,339	Ms Nursyahbani Katjasungkana	Indonesian Legal Aid Association for Women
2,338	Mr maurits van der Vlugt
2,337	Dr. Tom Wakeford	ETC Group
2,336	Dr. Michael Netzel	The University of Queensland
2,335	Dr. Nima Gunness
2,334	Dr. Daniel Rodriguez	University of Queensland
2,333	Dr. Yasmina Sultanbawa	QAAFI
2,332	Dr. Janine Lay	University of Queensland
2,331	Mr Jason Lamb	BMGF
2,330	Mrs Annie Cox
2,329	Mr Stephen Williams	University of Queensland
2,328	Dr. Melanie Wilkinson	The University of Queensland
2,327	Dr. Neil O'Leary	NUI Galway
2,326	Dr. Glen Fox
2,325	Dr. Richard Fuller	The University of Queensland
2,324	Dr. Mark Cooper	The University of Queensland
2,323	Dr. Mike Gidley	The University of Queensland
2,322	Dr. Ian Godwin	The University of Queensland
2,321	Dr. Mary Fletcher	University of Queensland (QAAFI)
2,320	Dr. Rose Alinda Alias	Professor
2,319	Ms Carolyn Martin	UQ
2,318	Mrs Angela O'Keeffe	UQ
2,317	Ms Kaniza Shafie	Inter-Granite Sdn Bhd
2,316	Dr. Bronwyn Harch	The University of Queensland
2,315	Mr Sameer Chishty
2,314	Dr. Frank Swinton
2,313	Ms Nazia Beceril Bilal	Independent Researcher
2,312	Ms ARCHANA PATKAR	UNAIDs
2,311	Ms Klara Landau	University Hospital Zurich
2,310	Dr. Bea Latal
2,309	Mr Luis Duarte Ayala
2,308	Ms Dahlia Rera	freelancer
2,307	Ms Ratna Ariyanti	Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia
2,306	Ms Silvyana Novira
2,305	Mr Hector Kolonas
2,304	Mr Josh Pollock
2,303	Mr Alain Schlesser	Bright Nucleus
2,302	Mr Vladimir Kostine	GravityView
2,301	Ms Apar Gupta	Internet Freedom Foundation
2,300	Mr Shawn Hooper
2,299	Mr Zack Katz	GravityView
2,298	Ms Syahar Banu	Personal
2,297	Ms Dina lubis
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Another list of people who have made the same commitment: www.manpanels.org

Coverage and Inspiration

Last year, six leading Washington think tanks presented more than 150 events on the Middle East that included not a single woman speaker. Fewer than one-quarter of all the speakers at the 232 events at those think tanks recorded in our newly compiled data-set were women.
“The mysterious absence of women from Middle East policy debates“ – Tamara Cofman Wittes and Marc Lynch, Washington Post Money Cage, January 20th 2015

Because I believe you cannot conduct constructive discourse on international issues without the participation of women, I recently decided not to speak on any panels that did not include women. I’m not writing this to seek a pat on the back. But because any discussion that does not include women’s perspectives or that reflexively excludes or fails to seek out the women who are leaders in their fields in virtually any and every subject on this agenda will be deeply inadequate and will only compound distortions of gender bias that exist because of our long history of systematic exclusion of women’s views. I’d much rather participate in discussions where the organizers actually demonstrate that they are committed to producing the best possible work product.

“Still waiting for Davos Woman” by David Rothkopf, FP Magazine, January 22nd, 2015

I often attend panels or discussions dominated by men, especially in technology. This is problematic since it sends the signal that only men have the expertise in their given field. To their credit, some men are initiating change.
“Three Ways To Change The Ratio of Women Receiving VC“ – Leah Eichler, Inc Website, November 10th 2014

There is no topic that cannot be discussed by women. There is no circumstance that would prevent one from inviting women. There is simply no rational excuse for excluding women. And, if you are invited to join a panel with no women, you must conclude it is being organized by fools.
“Why I will no longer speak on all-male panels“ – Scott Gilmore, Macleans, October 4th, 2014