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

2,307 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
2,307	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
2,296	Ms Eric Sasono
2,295	Dr. Anant Maringanti	Hyderabad Urban Lab Foundation
2,294	Mr Bayu Nugraha	Personal
2,293	Ms Antonio Belo	Individual
2,292	Ms Ni Putu Candra Dewi
2,291	Ms Nisrina Nadhifah Rahman	Hivos Regional Office SEA
2,290	Mr Nathanael Pribady	Logos
2,289	Mrs Diana Vincent Jospeh	Fourth Wave Foundation
2,288	Ms Priya Nanda	BMGF
2,287	Ms Naomi Srikandi	Peretas
2,286	Mr Mohamad Shohibuddin	IPB University
2,285	Ms Debbie Prabawati
2,284	Ms Jasna Jasna Žmak
2,283	Dr. Goran Pavlic	University of Zagreb
2,282	Ms Masha Kardashevskaya	University of Manitoba
2,281	Mr Margianta Surahman	Emancipate Indonesia
2,280	Mr Sandy Nofyanza
2,279	Mr Freddy Reynaldo	CEC RI
2,278	Ms Damairia Pakpahan	Protection International
2,277	Ms Afaf Khoshman	Teachers College Columbia university
2,276	Dr. Yulia Sugandi	Independent educator & researcher
2,275	Ms Emiko Kawashima	California State University, Dominguez Hills
2,274	Mr Carlos Trejo
2,273	Mr Jonthon Coulson	Teachers College, Columbia University
2,272	Miss Anna Soetomo	Student
2,271	Ms Rohani Dewi
2,270	Mrs nita roshita
2,269	Ms Mardiyah Chamim	Journalist
2,268	Mr AMOS ALEXANDER GARANG
2,267	Dr. Ariel Heryanto	Monash University
2,266	Mr Andreas Harsono	Human Rights Watch
2,265	Mr Mehran Hydary	UNICEF
2,264	Dr. Kulvir Beniwal
2,263	Mr Michael King	Traffic Calmer
2,262	Ms Diana Fishburne
2,261	Ms Laura Xhaxho
2,260	Dr. Jafri Malin Abdullah	Universiti Sains Malaysia
2,259	Mr Azran Osman Rani	Naluri
2,258	Mr Salil Ranadive
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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