This topic of whether women are properly represented in tech is a hot one, and it has a tendency to piss off a lot of people. I mean, why is it a conference’s fault that there are less women there when men make up three-fourths of the tech sector?
The answer is annoyingly simple: because the stuff we’re making is, more often than not, not just for the tech sector. It’s for the web-using public. And fifty percent of this public is women.
But shouldn’t we be looking for “the best” and not limiting ourselves to people’s genders? Good question. For starters, it’s a fallacy to assume that a long conference resume makes someone the best. Secondly, gender equality (or racial equality, for that matter) doesn’t mean we’re all the same. It’s these differences in perspective that can help those of us who attend these conferences develop products that make sense–for everyone.
OK, fine. So what, then?
Allyson Kapin has devised a great list over at Fast Company about what a conference can do to ensure diversity. Here’s the fast and furious version:
Organizations to contact for suggestions on speakers:
Girls In Tech
Anita Borg Institute
She’s Geeky
Women Who Tech
National Women of Color Technology Conference
Women In Technology International
Women 2.0
Social Media Women of Color
The National Center for Women and IT
BlogHer
List of women to watch:
Women 2 Follow
Online, searchable speaker resources:
Speakers Wiki
GeekSpeakPR
Are you a woman in tech? Get on the lists and sites! Approach conferences in your industry with panels! Join organizations to get yourself noticed! Conference programmers can only do so much if we’re not being proactive about speaking at these events. Get on it!
Photo by Frank Gruber.
