Jane (@teacamplondon) opens up and tells us about the Woman’s Room. @TheWomansroomuk Which came about because there were a lack of female experts to discuss Breast Cancer, so the panel ended up being completely male. So, this database was created so that when the media are looking for an “expert” in a particular field there will be a huge list of women who can be approached so that perhaps one day we can have gender balanced panels and discussions which can only benefit society.
Discussion threads/topics in the session are:
Can we celebrate our differences?
– Perception that women are less able, less likely to maths and science – I’d like to move away from stereotype, as it harms me as a web developer.
– When something offensive is said, even if you are the one women in the room – please speak up (male or female) and stop this behaviour.
– Men are feminists too.
– Feminism – it’s not about superiority, it’s about realising that we are all equal
– Is the internet a place where there is no gender agenda? There are no girls/”tits” on the internet. We are just people.
– Have noticed that female bloggers are more likely to get negative comments, death/rape threats when compared to male bloggers.
– Daily Mail celebrity column – objectifies women, this is a national paper that treats women as sexual objects. Is this part of our national culture? Can this be changed?
– Diversity is important in digital. It makes better products.
– Where are the women’s voices being heard? Is that why women don’t want to speak at conferences? Is it because we see so few women out there that we don’t want to engage or put ourselves forward?
– Men – how can we help? How can we help with gender equality? Do we boycott all male panels? Snark & Humour might be better placed than a full boycott? If we are fed up with what is happening with events, why don’t we just do it ourselves? Let’s set up alternative events. Fringe events.
– An example was given where a female tweeted asking where all the women were at a conference, which was ignored when all the tweets were summarised. But what if a man had tweeted that? Would that have still been ignored or would it have started a conversation about why there were so little women at a conference?
– We are living in a networked age, which actually plays more to a female psyche – these skills can help benefit us, bring them into the board room. Intimate dialogue, online, open spaces. We can all gain from this.
– We now have a critical mass of digital women who are here at #ukgc13, how can we help open these doors informally to younger women to guide them along in their careers?
– Is speaking on panels & conferences actually the way to go about addressing this gender inequality? Should we challenge how we organise ourselves as a society?
– What event would be ideal for young women to start talking and getting over their fears of talking on panels & conferences? Ignite?
– Intersectionality
– Imposter Syndrome – a lot of females can relate to this.
– It’s okay to be female in a niche profession/market.
So, lets take this way from just talking about it. What action can we do?
– when at a conference, recommend another female speaker
And at that point, we had to wrap up quickly and move onto the next session. But this isn’t the end of the conversation. It’s just beginning.
Thursday the 11th of April, will see “Woman in Digital”, being discussed at #teacamp – Do come along!
Baskers World 