What happens when one of the country’s most in-demand male speakers makes a public promise to never again appear on a male-dominated panel?
Well as I learnt sharing a panel with Dr Adam Fraser recently for an Xplore For Success event, many people will celebrate the move, but others will question it. Some will even go so far as to raise concerns about whether it could see men completely missing out in the future.
Earlier this year Fraser, along with a group of popular male speakers, made a pledge to never again speak on a male panel, criticising conference organisers for taking the “easy way out” by organising “dude fests”. The pledge got serious media attention, both locally and abroad. They are professional speaker whose incomes depend on getting regular gigs: would such a stand see them miss out on work?
Fraser told our panel last week that taking the pledge has seen him telling organisers they’ll have to remove him from a panel if they can’t find a woman to also include. Amazingly, when called out, it seems such organisers can do what previously seemed impossible: find a woman.
“I got some fan mail,” Fraser said when asked what happened when the pledge went public. “Ok it wasn’t fan mail. Actually it was a fair bit of abuse from white men who labeled me all sorts of descriptive words. Their argument was along the lines of, ‘so what if the panels are all female now?
“They asked, ‘Why do you care, why are you getting involved in the argument? … My point was that for too long we have been leaving it to women to do the heavy lifting on this issue.”
Despite such a reaction, Fraser said the pledge has been worth it. He said he’s seen many positive ripple effects — he’s seeing more female speakers included, and more conference organisers getting shamed for continuing to organise all-male panels.
“From my business perspective, I often talk about ‘how do we do what we do and do it better’,” he said. “My stance is that you’re missing out on such an important voice on these panels if you don’t include women.”
Last week’s Xplore panel – one that was equally gender balanced – discussed how we can better engage men and women in gender equality.
The panel pledge was a tangible example of small actions that can be taken, and one that came about from men discussing the issue with each other.
Ben McEvoy, Commercial Finance Director with JLL, noted the importance of men having conversations about gender diversity, to discuss their fears and concerns, and to talk about it within a framework that’s relevant to them, not just to women.
Meanwhile Xplore founder Diana Ryall, discussed privilege and called on everyone – male or female – to ask when and where they may have had an unfair advantage during their careers. She recalled recently hearing from a male CEO who admitted he could think of four times when such advantages had helped him get ahead, while Ryall said she can personally think of one such time. She also spoke about her experiences being on a panel last month, where she realized she was the most privileged person speaking. “I was sitting there waiting to introduce myself and I realized, I’m not indigenous, I’m not blind. I’m heterosexual. The only negatives I’m carrying is that I’m female and I’m older,” she said.
“Privilege is something that’s so powerful to think about. It opens the door to different conversations.”
