#HallOfShame: 9% Women Speakers at #SALT2016

SALT 2016  promotes itself as a conference where “industry heavyweights inspire, connect, and unite.” Despite an array of speakers from several industries, SALT’s speaker list only includes 11 women.

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Since we first noticed the lack of women speakers at SALT 2016 at the end of March, the number of women speakers has improved, but barely. Adding just a few women speakers isn't enough progress when the gender ratio is still only 9% women speakers.

Conference organizer Anthony Scaramucci told us that we were being “unfair” and the original 8 women speakers, compared to 79 male speakers, reflects the industry. It’s a weak excuse (and one of the top 10 most common excuses that we hear for a lack of women speakers), especially because the conference reflects more than one industry. The SALT 2016 About page says the conference includes heavyweights from entertainment, finance, politics, and business, and the conference speaker list includes philanthropists, entrepreneurs, actors, politicians, and more. Too many industries are represented for there to only be 11 women on the speaker list.

Scaramucci also told us to check out the website because “there are more women coming than ever before.” While we hope this is true and that a burst of women speakers is around the corner, three weeks have passed and the numbers have barely budged.

 
 

If these are truly industry heavyweights, they have the networks, connections, and resources to find and include women speakers. It’s time for SALT 2016 to walk the talk.

There is still time to make a change. SALT 2016 starts on May 10th. Tell the organizers to add more women speakers before the event kicks off next month.

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Share the message below on Twitter or Facebook:
Where are the women, @SALTconference2016? Out of 113 speakers, only 11 women. http://www.genderavenger.com/blog/hallofshame-11-women-speakers-at-salt2016 #HallofShame #SALT2016

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