Comments on: Ten tips for getting more women speakers http://geekfeminism.org/2009/08/11/ten-tips-for-getting-more-women-speaker/ Women, feminism, and geek culture Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:40:41 +0000 hourly 1 By: Link roundup, 13 August 2009 | Geek Feminism Blog http://geekfeminism.org/2009/08/11/ten-tips-for-getting-more-women-speaker/comment-page-1/#comment-59 Link roundup, 13 August 2009 | Geek Feminism Blog Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:29:03 +0000 http://geekfeminism.org/?p=45#comment-59 [...] Editorial work is hard, asshole. This response to Tempest’s post (above) reads like a list of things I wish had thought to put on the tips for finding women speakers. [...] [...] Editorial work is hard, asshole. This response to Tempest’s post (above) reads like a list of things I wish had thought to put on the tips for finding women speakers. [...]

]]> By: Mary http://geekfeminism.org/2009/08/11/ten-tips-for-getting-more-women-speaker/comment-page-1/#comment-43 Mary Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:19:25 +0000 http://geekfeminism.org/?p=45#comment-43 Actually, job paperwork for sufficiently large organisations in Australia (say, universities) does ask. For race/cultural heritage it's a binary or ternary: "Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, or neither?" The other two questions are language spoken at home, and about certain classes of disabilities (vision and mobility mostly). I think for the last a accessibility/accommodation staff member can be asked to help set up your work environment for you. But that doesn't measure diversity in the ways we're discussing (language comes closest, but there are many first generation immigrants who choose to or simply already did speak English exclusively) and the idea of a random event asking would be totally culturally alien (and also play into Australian cultural dislike of being too American). The most that an event would conceivably normally ask would be for dietary restrictions and possibly for age in the sense of under/over 18 status. Could be harder. Could be trying to do this in France. Actually, job paperwork for sufficiently large organisations in Australia (say, universities) does ask. For race/cultural heritage it’s a binary or ternary: “Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, or neither?” The other two questions are language spoken at home, and about certain classes of disabilities (vision and mobility mostly). I think for the last a accessibility/accommodation staff member can be asked to help set up your work environment for you.

But that doesn’t measure diversity in the ways we’re discussing (language comes closest, but there are many first generation immigrants who choose to or simply already did speak English exclusively) and the idea of a random event asking would be totally culturally alien (and also play into Australian cultural dislike of being too American). The most that an event would conceivably normally ask would be for dietary restrictions and possibly for age in the sense of under/over 18 status.

Could be harder. Could be trying to do this in France.

]]> By: Bronwyn http://geekfeminism.org/2009/08/11/ten-tips-for-getting-more-women-speaker/comment-page-1/#comment-38 Bronwyn Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:55:37 +0000 http://geekfeminism.org/?p=45#comment-38 Loved these tips. This and the FastCo article prompted me to blog as well. My take is that there's a deeper problem than just diversity when it comes to conferences... but I think women could lead the way in creating more meaningful gatherings, vs. death by panel. Check it out: http://adventuresinpr.blogspot.com Loved these tips. This and the FastCo article prompted me to blog as well. My take is that there’s a deeper problem than just diversity when it comes to conferences… but I think women could lead the way in creating more meaningful gatherings, vs. death by panel. Check it out:

http://adventuresinpr.blogspot.com

]]> By: Mackenzie http://geekfeminism.org/2009/08/11/ten-tips-for-getting-more-women-speaker/comment-page-1/#comment-37 Mackenzie Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:40:19 +0000 http://geekfeminism.org/?p=45#comment-37 Kontact has Akregator so its in the same window as KMail, but that still doesn't put it directly mixed in. Kontact has Akregator so its in the same window as KMail, but that still doesn’t put it directly mixed in.

]]> By: Mackenzie http://geekfeminism.org/2009/08/11/ten-tips-for-getting-more-women-speaker/comment-page-1/#comment-36 Mackenzie Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:38:10 +0000 http://geekfeminism.org/?p=45#comment-36 I just renewed my ACM student membership. It asked if I'm male or female, and it also asked of US residents (only) what their race was with a note that it's for statistical information having something to do with getting grant money. I just renewed my ACM student membership. It asked if I’m male or female, and it also asked of US residents (only) what their race was with a note that it’s for statistical information having something to do with getting grant money.

]]> By: Skud http://geekfeminism.org/2009/08/11/ten-tips-for-getting-more-women-speaker/comment-page-1/#comment-34 Skud Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:39:35 +0000 http://geekfeminism.org/?p=45#comment-34 Terri, as an Australian living in the US, I must say that the questions asked on job paperwork here about race would never fly over there. Those sort of questions are *not* things that people in Australia have "seen before". And apart from that, Australians have different concepts of race and ethnicity; the breakdown into white/black/hispanic/asian that the US uses wouldn't really work there, and second-generation-and-onwards Australians tend not to feel as strongly identified with their cultural heritage as Americans do or use hyphenated identifiers ("Italian-American") in the same way. The only time an Australian usually has to disclose cultural heritage is on the census, which asks for your "ancestry" as a free-form field, and what language(s) you speak at home. Terri, as an Australian living in the US, I must say that the questions asked on job paperwork here about race would never fly over there. Those sort of questions are *not* things that people in Australia have “seen before”.

And apart from that, Australians have different concepts of race and ethnicity; the breakdown into white/black/hispanic/asian that the US uses wouldn’t really work there, and second-generation-and-onwards Australians tend not to feel as strongly identified with their cultural heritage as Americans do or use hyphenated identifiers (“Italian-American”) in the same way.

The only time an Australian usually has to disclose cultural heritage is on the census, which asks for your “ancestry” as a free-form field, and what language(s) you speak at home.

]]> By: Terri http://geekfeminism.org/2009/08/11/ten-tips-for-getting-more-women-speaker/comment-page-1/#comment-33 Terri Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:23:02 +0000 http://geekfeminism.org/?p=45#comment-33 Well, my government does this sort of thing all the time (asking ethnicity for job-diversity purposes), as do other organizations, so I'm sure there's a standard way to say it that's been tested to be minimally offensive. Or at least so that it's just another question that people have seen before. Just remember to make participation voluntary. You can also approximate for many conferences by looking at photos... it's hardly precise, but can give a general idea. The idea of privacy is interesting... I'd never thought about it for a conference, but I do remember back in my BBS days having to lie and say I was male if I wanted to *use* the BBS as opposed to spend my evening chatting with a lonely sysop. (I swear, some of the software must have had a bell that rung when a girl logged in...) I can see that this could potentially be something people would want to have disassociated. Or maybe the lesson here is just to remember that people will lie as it suits them? I have a female friend who set her facebook gender to male, presumably in part to avoid the really stupid ads you get as a young woman. Also, organizations also get gender info by asking for title. That might be a quieter, sneaky way to do it. Again, though, you should make it optional. It drives me crazy when I can't refuse to enter a title, and the moment I can use the nice gender-neutral "Dr." I'm probably never using Ms. again. (Although I'm trading gender issues for pretentious issues, so it might not be a total win.) Well, my government does this sort of thing all the time (asking ethnicity for job-diversity purposes), as do other organizations, so I’m sure there’s a standard way to say it that’s been tested to be minimally offensive. Or at least so that it’s just another question that people have seen before. Just remember to make participation voluntary.

You can also approximate for many conferences by looking at photos… it’s hardly precise, but can give a general idea.

The idea of privacy is interesting… I’d never thought about it for a conference, but I do remember back in my BBS days having to lie and say I was male if I wanted to *use* the BBS as opposed to spend my evening chatting with a lonely sysop. (I swear, some of the software must have had a bell that rung when a girl logged in…) I can see that this could potentially be something people would want to have disassociated. Or maybe the lesson here is just to remember that people will lie as it suits them? I have a female friend who set her facebook gender to male, presumably in part to avoid the really stupid ads you get as a young woman.

Also, organizations also get gender info by asking for title. That might be a quieter, sneaky way to do it. Again, though, you should make it optional. It drives me crazy when I can’t refuse to enter a title, and the moment I can use the nice gender-neutral “Dr.” I’m probably never using Ms. again. (Although I’m trading gender issues for pretentious issues, so it might not be a total win.)

]]> By: Terri http://geekfeminism.org/2009/08/11/ten-tips-for-getting-more-women-speaker/comment-page-1/#comment-32 Terri Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:10:49 +0000 http://geekfeminism.org/?p=45#comment-32 Regarding RSS readers: Some mail clients are actually including RSS readers so that you can treat your RSS feeds just like mailing lists, now. I was surprised by how nice Thunderbird's setup was, and how the blog feeds were integrated with my mail. Obviously the problem is solved for this blog, so you don't need to care. But it might be something to keep in mind if there's an RSS feed you'd like to follow that doesn't have an email option! Regarding RSS readers: Some mail clients are actually including RSS readers so that you can treat your RSS feeds just like mailing lists, now. I was surprised by how nice Thunderbird’s setup was, and how the blog feeds were integrated with my mail. Obviously the problem is solved for this blog, so you don’t need to care. But it might be something to keep in mind if there’s an RSS feed you’d like to follow that doesn’t have an email option!

]]> By: Mary http://geekfeminism.org/2009/08/11/ten-tips-for-getting-more-women-speaker/comment-page-1/#comment-27 Mary Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:29:53 +0000 http://geekfeminism.org/?p=45#comment-27 I suppose another thing is to consider privacy. For attendees, perhaps it doesn't need to be stored in the database affiliated with their registration row, so that the conference knows that it has 5% women, but there's no join possible on which particular attendees are women. I suppose another thing is to consider privacy. For attendees, perhaps it doesn’t need to be stored in the database affiliated with their registration row, so that the conference knows that it has 5% women, but there’s no join possible on which particular attendees are women.

]]> By: Skud http://geekfeminism.org/2009/08/11/ten-tips-for-getting-more-women-speaker/comment-page-1/#comment-26 Skud Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:26:07 +0000 http://geekfeminism.org/?p=45#comment-26 Yeah, that's hard. Can you make the question optional, and link it to an explanation of why you're asking it? Something like, "$conf supports diversity and is working on improving the mix of speakers at our event. To this end, we are trying to measure our progress. If you don't mind, could you give us a few demographic details?" If that's still not culturally comfortable, you can get an approximation by just working off what you know. Eg. "Of the people we know, N are people of colour/from other countries/mid 20s or younger/whatever." After the conference, you will know more of the people (esp. first-timers), and be able to adjust the figures accordingly. Yeah, that’s hard. Can you make the question optional, and link it to an explanation of why you’re asking it? Something like, “$conf supports diversity and is working on improving the mix of speakers at our event. To this end, we are trying to measure our progress. If you don’t mind, could you give us a few demographic details?”

If that’s still not culturally comfortable, you can get an approximation by just working off what you know. Eg. “Of the people we know, N are people of colour/from other countries/mid 20s or younger/whatever.” After the conference, you will know more of the people (esp. first-timers), and be able to adjust the figures accordingly.

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