Back to the Future (of Web Apps)

I've been a vociferous critic of Carson Systems in the past because of the lack of gender diversity at their Future of Web Apps conference.

I'm happy to report that progress has been made! Their roster for their upcoming conference has eight women on it. By comparison, their conference last September had exactly none, and their London conference this past February had just one woman on the schedule. It's refreshing to scroll down the page and not see a sea of fellas.

I never wanted to get in the middle of the endless arguments about diversity, at conferences and otherwise. Alas, I have poor impulse control, and if something's bugging me, I'm rarely able to keep my mouth shut. The conversation was exhausting at times, and I'm sure it will be again in the future, but it's worth it. And while I do find the "Why don't you stop complaining about it and DO something?" retort to be tiresome, I'm glad I took the bait and did something.

I started the List of Women Speakers For Your Conference nearly a year ago. It's one of the most visited and linked to pages on Personism. Several of the women on it have told me that they've been invited to speak at events because conference planners found them listed there. It's incredibly gratifying to hear that it's being put to good use. (I also hope to have the time and the resources to optimize it sometime soon.)

And whether they referenced that list or not, I'm thrilled that Carson has discovered that finding qualified women to speak at their conferences isn't impossible. It's major progress considering that last year they asked two women and called it a day.

Comments

[Richard Friedman]

Strange, because most of the web designers I've met are women, especially where I work (Sun Microsystems). But, I see that Carson Systems are in the UK. That explains why.

[Joe Clark]

I’ll believe you’re committed to “diversity” when you stop defining that as “adding more women.”

[Jen Bekman]

Joe I never "defined" diversity as adding more women.

Gender is specifically the aspect of diversity that I've taken a personal interest in. And yes, I'm committed to it and I've created change through my actions.

[beth]

I don't know why bringing up the gender disparity in web design is such a divisive issue? People are quick to say "Well in my experience blah blah" but the fact remains that overall in the industry there are far fewer women than men. Diversity is another discussion and I don't think anyone wanting to see more women speakers in web design means they're neglecting diversity as a whole.

Is it the obligation of conference organizers to provide a woman's voice? I don't know. I'm inclined to think that if we begin giving women more recognition at the forefront of the industry, and hear what they have to say, we'll see more women emerge. I was shocked after An Event Apart when people kept remarking at how many women there were. I did a quick and dirty (and very approximated) count while there, and the ratio was about 1:10. How is that anywhere even close to a lot of women?

Anyhow I'm glad to see people are beginning to take this to heart. I noticed the next AEA includes several women speakers.