A Perfect Storm

There are lots and lots of conferences all the time. People go to them to hear important people speak about Things That Matter. Women are woefully under-represented at these conferences (and lots of other sorts of people too, which is another but not entirely different topic.)

It's been a hot topic among friends for while. I've been writing about it here on my blog since I got all wound up over a tech conference back in August:
Women + Web 2.0.

And hey, wouldn't ya know? Turns out that women are under-represented in the art world told. Fancy that:
Women + Art

Then, last week, I got Tokion's announcement for their Creativity Now conference. Here we have a conference about art, and tech, and media and fashion. And there was not one woman on the roster. A perfect storm, and for that Tokion, I thank you.

I wrote about it:
Women + Creativity.

Design Observer linked it up.

Tokion added more men to the speaker schedule. (Yes, really.)

Sunday, well Sunday was a good day.

Marc + Sara of Wooster Collective announced that they wouldn't be attending and published an open letter to the conference's speakers and moderators.

Grace Bonney wrote about it on design*sponge and encouraged people to add to the list of potential female speakers.

And here's the best part: one lazy Sunday and I've got a list, and that list is over 300 women strong:
A List, To Start

I'm working on getting it all organized and also adding in all the excellent suggestions from Grace's thread on d*s. I hope to republish a rolled-up comprehensive list later today. And yes, now that you mention it, I am planning a conference.

Comments

[Annette Monnier]

Hey Jen,

Thanks for bringing Tokion's exclusion of women to my attention...I write two blogs with an art audience and will post it.

[Debra]

Jen,

To continue with your perfect storm analogy:

It was a similar reaction that caused three women in the Silicon Valley to start BlogHer just over 2 years ago. As their Contributing Editor for craft, I wrote about the discussion going on here and at design*sponge. I ended by asking:
Do creative women need to take the step of forming CreateHer... or can the public discussions like this one work as a call to action to conference organizers without a formalized organization to push the issue?

One of the founders of BlogHer included this in her post:
http://workerbeesblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/its-only-fair-to-pick-on-big-dogs-too.html
and answered my question:
I guess my response is why Either/Or? I think we have to keep doing both.

Hence this post. You gotta pick on the big dogs to.

[Jen Bekman]

Hi Debra

I know that this conversation is a recurring one, and it's been discussed at length in the tech world for many years. (I worked in tech for many years before starting the gallery.)

With all due respect to BlogHer and its achievements, CreateHer or any other kind of all-female conference or organization is not of interest to me.

What IS of interest to me is organizing a conference with a diverse speaker list that is an a-list must-attend event for creatives, media and technology PEOPLE.

I understand that there are some merits in creating a supportive women-only environment, and I'm sure that it's a great launching point for ideas, but my personal goal is to not create something that's exclusively woman-oriented.

Thanks for joining the conversation.

[Cheryl Oakes]

The fact that we have to have the conversation you started on your blog is an indication that we have to have a group WOW2 and a place for others to see that the conversations matter to women and that women are decision makers on this Internet journey.
We are producers, not just consumers.
Thanks to you!