It’s GenderAvenger’s Anniversary, and We Have a Yearbook to Show You

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GenderAvenger incorporated a year ago this month, and we think that's something to celebrate! Here is our yearbook of the amazing things we've done over the last 12 months since incorporation:

October 2014

 
 

Techonomy hosted a livestream discussion about gender balance in tech partially in response to their own poor ratio, which landed them in the GenderAvenger Hall of Shame. We are fans of sparking discussion, and we're not shy about liking media attention, either.

Avenger Suzanne Kahn wrote "You and GenderAvenger: Suzanne Kahn and the Consequences of Too Few Women Role Models."

FROM THE NEWSLETTER — 
Hall of Shame: POLITICO's "The Politico 50"; Hall of Fame: The Washington Post's #techboomers.

November 2014

Avenger Kati Sipp wrote about #womensvoicesmatter about her work to elevate and amplify the voices of women in politics. Excellent work, Kati!

And Avenger Ann Coleman shared her love for us on Facebook:

 

I just invited a whole bunch of y'all, and I really do invite you all, to check out Gender Avenger. Despite the...

Posted by Ann Coleman on Thursday, 13 November 2014
 

Thanks, Ann!

FROM THE NEWSLETTER — 
Hall of Shame: Boston Data Festival.

December 2014

Avenger Avital Andrews wrote "How Having a Daughter Made Me More of a Feminist," which really pushed home why we need strong women as role models:

Thanks to my mother and other strong female role models, it never occurred to me not to have a career. I always knew I could make money of my own, and I started to when I was 15. I never expected to depend on anyone else, though my father and husband are excellent providers. Now that I have a daughter, I want her to know and understand these same things.

FROM THE NEWSLETTER — 
Hall of Shame: Re/code's Code/Media conference.

January 2015

 
 

GenderAvenger's new app, the GA Tally, was featured on MSNBC's Krystal Clear with Krystal Ball with Liz Plank.

Claire Moshenberg

GenderAvenger grew enough that we recognized the need for a Communications Director, and we welcomed Claire Moshenberg to our team. Thanks for joining us, Claire!

FROM THE NEWSLETTER — 
Hall of Shame: DLD15; Hall of Fame: Spotify's Diversify.

February 2015

 
 

We launched our first fundraising campaign at GenderAvenger, The Mellody Hobson Challenge. Mellody matched every dollar given with $3, and we are incredibly grateful for her support and dedication. Thank you to everyone who had helped make us a success! (If you give $35+, you can become the proud owner of a GenderAvenger original t-shirt.)

FROM THE NEWSLETTER — 
Hall of Fame: Lyft.

March 2015

The GA Tally app made a big, big noise at SXSW!

 
by Nan Palmero [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

by Nan Palmero [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

 

We were talked about enough at SXSW that our story was picked up by publications like The Daily Dot, MTV, and Mashable.

 
 

Avenger Jessica Esch, who was already a natural Avenger before we met her, keeps track of the number of women cartoonists published in The New Yorker, and she found that 2014 was a pretty bad year. We are proud of her work and grateful for having her voice in the arena.

April 2015

 
 

We highlighted books and the literary world, using our GA Tally to show just how far we've come.

FROM THE NEWSLETTER 
Hall of Shame: The New Yorker; Hall of Fame: Crain's New York Business 2015 40 Under 40.

May 2015

 
GenderAvenger (left to right): Gina Glantz, Elan Morgan, Susan Askew, and Claire Moshenberg

GenderAvenger (left to right): Gina Glantz, Elan Morgan, Susan Askew, and Claire Moshenberg

 

GenderAvenger had our first annual general meeting in California. We all met in person for the first time, but social media had already made us good friends. We looked back at how much we've done, how much more we have to do, and how we're going to get there. These are exciting times!

 

We asked @pgpfoundation why there were almost no #FiscalSummit women speakers. Here's their response. #genderavenger

— GenderAvenger (@GenderAvenger) May 18, 2015
 

We also challenged the Peter G. Peterson Foundation when their annual fiscal summit had incredibly poor ratios with only 16% women speakers, an all-male lineup of special guests, and 90% male speakers in their website videos. We know they heard us, because they blocked us on Twitter before rethinking their social media strategy.

And we launched the GenderAvenger Pledge, which urges men to make the following promise: "I will not serve as a panelist at a public conference when there are no women on the panel."

Our GA Pledge list continues to grow with names from all over the globe. Add your own name to the pledge and let the world know that women's voices must be included in public dialog.

FROM THE NEWSLETTER — 
Hall of Shame: Washingtonian Magazine; Hall of Fame: Fast Company.

June 2015

A number of Avengers threw their hats in the writing ring:

Avengers Laurel Henning and Marika Andersen's "The Problem of All-Male Panels: @EUPanelWatch Says No More Excuses"

FROM THE NEWSLETTER — 
Hall of Shame: Outside Lands 2015; Hall of Fame: A Capitol Fourth 35th Anniversary.

July 2015

 
 
 
 

Esquire landed squarely in our Hall of Shame when their list of "80 Best Books Every Man Should Read" included only one female author, and, as one GenderAvenger tweeted, that was likely because they thought Flannery O'Connor was a man. Claire and our GenderAvenger community came up with more than 100 suggestions for Esquire and their readers, and many of the comments on Esquire's original article came from the GenderAvenger community.

 
 

And we released our animated video, "GenderAvenger, Episode 1: The Conference," which celebrates our GA Tally app in all its forms and the real change it can create.

FROM THE NEWSLETTER — 
Hall of Shame: The Institute for Health Technology Transformation; Hall of Fame: TEDMED 2015.

August 2015

 
 

Wade Kwon wrote "As Diverse a Conference Lineup as Fans Deserve: Wade Kwon at Y’all Connect" about his experience with creating a diverse speaker line-up at Y'all Connect.

Avenger Keith Mestrich, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amalgamated Bank, wrote "Why Keith Mestrich, Bank President, Signed the GenderAvenger Pledge Not to Speak On All-Male Panels" for us. We love hearing from men on this issue. Thank you, Keith!

Avenger and Founder Gina Glantz published an op-ed in The Washington Post, "When celebrating women traps them in a silo."

FROM THE NEWSLETTER —
Hall of Shame: TechCrunch; Hall of Fame: Man Booker Prize.

September 2015

When we criticized Launch Festival on Twitter for having a poor gender ratio among their speakers again, Jason Calcanis, the founder of Launch, recognized the need for change and showed his commitment to working harder. How can we not like this?!

 
Heidi Sieck and Ruth Wooden
 

Our Founder, Gina Glantz, held events in Washington, Dallas, and New York over the year, one of which was held at New York's Civic Hall and sponsored by The Harnisch Foundation. Here are two of the wonderful attendees: Heidi Sieck, Chief Operating Officer of Civic Hall, and Ruth Wooden, retired President of Public Agenda! We think Ruth looks pretty good in our GenderAvenger t-shirt.

And, because September wasn't exciting enough, Gina was a guest on MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry to talk politics. Click the two videos below to watch Gina in action: 

Why Clinton is now playing the gender card

Why Clinton is now playing the gender card

Authenticity: Biden vs. Clinton

Authenticity: Biden vs. Clinton

Go, Gina!

 
 

And last but not least, we made a case for women in late night TV back in February, and Stephen Colbert underscored our need to continue making that case in September when his show came out with some of the worst gender ratios for writers and guests after he said that he wanted the Late Show to celebrate women's voices.

FROM THE NEWSLETTER —
We had a 2-minute drill to spread the word about TechCrunch Disrupt's poor gender ratio.

GenderAvenger had an incredible year.
Let's review:

  • We incorporated.
  • We confronted poor gender ratios with our Hall of Shame: Techonomy, POLITICO, Boston Data Festival, Re/code, DLD15, The New Yorker, Washingtonian Magazine, Outside Lands 2015, The Institute for Health Technology Transformation, and TechCrunch, among others.
  • We celebrated good gender ratios with our Hall of Fame: The Washington Post's #techboomers, Spotify's Diversify, Lyft, Crain's New York Business 2015 40 Under 40, Fast Company, A Capitol Fourth 35th Anniversary, TEDMED 2015, and the Man Booker Prize, among others.
  • We made a lot of noise at SXSW with the help of our trusty GA Tally app and were written up in various news sources around the world.
  • Our amazing Avengers wrote great articles for us — Suzanne Kahn, Kati Sipp, Avital Andrews, Jessica Esch, Laurel Henning and Marika Andersen, Steve Rosenthal, Bea O'Rourke, and Keith Mestrich — to help spread the word.
  • We launched three versions of our GA Tally app on iOS, Android, and desktop.
  • We made a gorgeous video about how you can create change with GenderAvenger.
  • We created the GenderAvenger Pledge to give men the opportunity to take a stand publicly and in their communities.
  • GenderAvenger was seen and heard on tv and in the news when our Founder Gina Glantz appeared on both Krystal Clear with Krystal Ball and Melissa Harris-Perry and she wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post.
  • Founder Gina Glantz held several in-person events across the United States to speak with a number of communities and spread the word.
  • And, rather importantly, we began fundraising to support our work to keep women's voices in public dialog.

Help make our 2nd year as great as our 1st!

Please help GenderAvenger continue to improve gender ratios at conferences, in the media, on top ten lists, and anywhere women's voices are not being heard in great enough numbers. We need your support.

Thank you so much for being a part of this incredible year.

Whether you subscribed to our newsletter and blog, spread the word on Twitter and Facebook, wrote for us, collaborated with us, or brought up the importance of gender ratios at conferences you attended or helped create, you are part of what makes GenderAvenger heard and effective both online and out in the field. Your support and commitment to action are commendable.

Together, we can make sure women are heard, because women as equals will become the norm when it is the norm. Everywhere.

Sign our yearbook in the comments!

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