Action Alert | A Lot of Men Are Talking This Week
This week we tallied Smart Cities Connect and Bitcoin Conference. Two hundred fifteen speakers will take the Smart Cities Connect stage to discuss governance solutions and innovations in energy, technology, and infrastructure for municipalities across North America. Nearly four hundred speakers at Bitcoin Conference will share their expertise and passion for cryptocurrency.
Are there no women in municipal government? 70% of speakers at Smart Cities Connect are men. Maybe Smart Cities Connect can collaborate with Women in Municipal Government (WIMG), a caucus within the National League of Cities that serves as a forum for communication and networking among women local elected officials and their colleagues. Finding this group of women was a quick Google search for us, but other possible solutions might bring more women to the table. You just have to be intentional about it.
Although the Bitcoin Conference continues to announce new speakers on social media, approximately 86% of speakers at the Bitcoin Conference are men. There’s much work required to bring more women to crypto. According to a 2021 Bloomberg article, only 15% of Bitcoin Traders Are Women. It’s inspiring to get the biggest, loudest, most-known speakers at an event. We get it. But in such an innovative space, conferences like this could serve as a bridge to inclusion.
Our conclusion… A lot of men are talking this week. Looking at the impressive speaker lineups for Smart Cities Connect and Bitcoin Conference, we have to wonder if anyone thought about how to include more women at either of these events. Tons of men are gaining professional development or solidifying themselves as experts by taking up time on the mic at these two conferences. Where are the women?
See Something? Say Something!
How often have you gone to a conference or looked at a speaker lineup and rolled your eyes? Let’s be brave! Speak out. Ask questions. Provide alternative speakers who are women, women of color, and non-binary folks. Better yet, use the GenderAvenger Tally to count who’s present. Sometimes seeing the numbers in a graph provides glaring evidence that women are not present but should be. It takes a couple of minutes, and the impact is enormous.
Light the Flame with Inspiring Reads
How can we challenge ideas about gender and expertise so that women can claim their place at the table, take their time at the mic, or rise to power and influence? We hope this week’s reads empower and inspire your advocacy and thinking.
Even as medicine becomes more diverse, a new analysis of two of the nation’s most prestigious medical journals shows that women and people of color rarely served as lead or senior authors of research articles published over the past three decades.
Twenty-eight percent of academic women surveyed by Gallup say they were overlooked for promotion or advancement opportunities due to their gender. That’s a more significant share than female workers in the U.S. in general.
Psst… Sharing is caring! If you enjoy our weekly love letter to gender equality, pass it on to a friend, colleague, organization, or event planner you know!
📣🚨 Yikes! The speaker lineups for #Bitcoin2022 and #SCC22 are overwhelmingly men. Where are the women?