Lately it seems like the question making the rounds hasn't been "where are the women bloggers", it's been "where are the women speakers?" I've been getting emails on the subject, which prompted me to write a post on it, but the conversation has been growing and percolating all over the BlogHerSpere.
Yvonne DiVita is only the most recent woman to throw a brochure for a conference into the circular file because she noted there was not a single woman speaker. But other BlogHers are very publicly asking: why so few women speakers? Why no women quoted? Why no women on your reference list?
Check out:
Two posts from Nancy White
Susan Mernit
Jeaneane Sessum
Halley Suitt
Lisa Williams
The comments on the Les Blogs 2.0 Program post
Did I miss anybody? Post your post on this same topic in the comments here.
Now in those Les Blogs comments, and on Debbie Weil's blog (and my own) some of the guys running the conferences in question have chimed in, trying to explain. (Which motivated me to write a dedicated response to the most common reason given, women didn't submit, entitled: Whose Job Is It Anyway?)
Bottom line: more and more of these women are calling for us to keep talking about it but to also start taking action.
There's supply-side action...like listing yourself on the Speaker's Wiki and submitting your proposals.
And there's demand-side action...like not attending homogeneous events, or subscribing to homogeneous publications and blogging about why.
What are your thoughts?
Checking in from the Les Blogs conference. I will say this: there are more women in the audience here, than in similar conferences in the US. And there do seem to be a fair share of female speakers ...
Posted by: Class V | December 05, 2005 at 02:14 AM
As an example, here are two of them, Cathy Nivez (left) and Rebecca MacKinnon (right), speaking on the panel entitled, "Citizen Journalism and Mainstream Media". MacKinnon, in particular, was fantastic: her points were provocative and generally well received by the audience.
http://tinyurl.com/cl2wz
(I can't seem to post HTML within a comment. Or at least, image tags. Or perhaps I've had too much French wine to drink!)
Posted by: Class V | December 05, 2005 at 08:44 AM
Thanks for the "live-blogging" from Les Blogs Class V!
I amgald that Les Blogs has a couple of great BlogHers speaking on the citizen journalism movement. These are exactly the movement leaders that the reporter Susan blogged about should have been able to find.
Posted by: Elisa Camahort | December 05, 2005 at 09:04 AM
I've thrown my hat in the ring to be considered as a speaker by listing myself on the Speaker's Wiki -- however, my two cents here:
As a woman of colour (and one who is from/lives overseas), I think adding more international content (in addition to more women speakers/speakers who can provide differing viewpoints from the mainstream) can only enhance an already-impressive BlogHer. Congratulations for attacking the topic head on!
K.
Posted by: Chookooloonks | December 09, 2005 at 03:21 AM
Great K.! (Although I couldn't really tell who you were on the wiki from your handle and the initial K. :(
Doesn't matter: we expect to release a request for speaker submissions and session proposals in January. Watch this site. Or sign up for our email newsletter.
Posted by: Elisa Camahort | December 09, 2005 at 10:01 AM
Sorry, Elisa -- I'm Karen Walrond (how I'm listed on the WIKI).
Off to sign up for the newsletter now ...
Thanks!
K.
Posted by: Chookooloonks | January 04, 2006 at 03:54 PM