[iDC] Where have all the women gone?

[Danny Butt]

Trebor, your first sentence sounds like a stereotypical defensive  
response, but I'm not sure if your last sentence is a mea culpa or not.

Amanda's question reflects my own experience, the gender/ethnic  
composition of *organisational* bodies (not invited participants) for  
forums often - if not always - reflects the "participation" of those  
groups (esp. those whose participation is "genuinely sought" lol) in  
those forums.

There is no "other space" or "public" where such "participation"  
happens. We either engage with other social locations in our day to  
day activities as cultural organisers or we don't. Our social  
networks, professional networks, citation networks, curatorial  
networks etc. are a marker of our positioning. If we want to change  
anything, we can change the people who we engage with in setting the  
agenda for our projects. And if we can't change those, no "practical  
suggestions for fostering participation" are going to achieve much.

[I am not trying to put myself on a moral high-ground with respect to  
you here, I've spent more than enough time organising cultural events  
with predominantly male org committees :7. I'm just saying that I  
think Amanda's question gets to an empirical (not virtual) reality  
that is in accord with my experience.]

Danny



On 09/07/2006, at 11:36 PM, Trebor Scholz wrote:


> Gender balance is always an important concern, thanks for bringing it
> up, Amanda! We invited 5 women (out of a total of 12 participants).
>
>> Whatever the reasons are-- they are not comforting; it's simply bad
>> and there is no excuse. It's 2006!
>
> However, I do apologize because I was not clear enough.
>
> I think that there is -- no excuse -- for *facilitators/organizers*  
> not
> to include women.
>
> Trebor

On 09/07/2006, at 8:35 AM, Trebor Scholz wrote:
> Beyond a general call to the keyboard and individual invitations; what
> are practical suggestions for fostering participation by women on
> mailing lists?


--
http://www.dannybutt.net