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

2,220 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
2,220	Mr Steve Kingstone	Oxfam GB
2,219	Mrs Alison Hopkinson	Oxfam Gb
2,218	Ms Helen Bushell	Oxfam GB
2,217	Mr Andrew King	Anza
2,216	Ms Sneha Visakha
2,215	Mr Joe Huston	GiveDirectly
2,214	Mr Matthew Scott
2,213	Mr Daniel Amyot	University of Ottawa
2,212	Dr. Steel Wagstaff	Pressbooks
2,211	Mr Ryan Groves	Arcona
2,210	Mr Thomas Hillard	ESMT
2,209	Mr Max van Deursen	Wageningen University
2,208	Ms Irakli Beridze	1975
2,207	Mr Oscar Montiel
2,206	Mrs Archana Mittal
2,205	Mr Jon Harle	INASP
2,204	Mrs Rashka Berrigan
2,203	Ms Micaela Vescia
2,202	Ms Rossana Peschier	Fridaysforfuture
2,201	Ms Elena Pistorio
2,200	Ms Sarah Marder	Wise Places
2,199	Mr Gianni Chianetta	Greening the Islands
2,198	Ms Mina Jaf
2,197	Mr Dismas Chilufaya
2,196	Mr Alejandro Briceno
2,195	Mr Scott Neufeld	Simon Fraser University
2,194	Dr. Laura Wharton	Jerusalem City Council
2,193	Mrs Julie Thorup	CBSI - Center for Beskæftigelse, Sprog og Integration
2,192	Ms Eva Riedel	Mandag Morgen Businesskvinder
2,191	Miss Charlotte Skovgaard
2,190	Ms Angela Langenkamp
2,189	Dr. Wil Burns	Institute for Carbon Removal Law & Policy, American University
2,188	Dr. Andrew Fox	University of Nottingham
2,187	Dr. Chris Davey	Royal Mencap Society
2,186	Dr. Kevin Cook	WaterHarvest
2,185	Ms Iris Krebber
2,184	Ms Michelle Quinn	International Stability Operations Association
2,183	Ms Michelle Quinn
2,182	Mr Brian Coventry
2,181	Dr. Dan Rood	University of Georgia
2,180	Ms Erin Sweeney	Grow Asia
2,179	Mr Robert Forde	Oxfam Ireland
2,178	Ms Charis Pasiourtidou
2,177	Ms Caitlin Baker	Oxfam Ireland
2,176	Mr Colm Byrne	Oxfam
2,175	Ms Alexia Solomou	Barrister from Cyprus
2,174	Mr Ed Pomfret	Oxfam
2,173	Dr. Louise Pryor
2,172	Dr. Ambika Malla
2,171	Ms Sanymi Gupta
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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