Gender Disparity on Convention Panels

[alittlebriton]

At the recent SFX Weekender, a convention with around 6000 attendees, author China Miéville stepped down from a panel because there weren’t any women on it. Paul Cornell followed up by publicly announcing that he would step down from any panel if he felt there was a gender imbalance to make space for a female author. “So, this year, I've decided

Comments

[e_moon60]

The argument that the women writers aren't as well known, or as popular with the audience rests on a reality that women have not been allowed the exposure given to the men. That includes critical attention (reviews of equal length and insight) and opportunities for public appearance in venues that indicate the writer is being taken seriously. Writers become popular speakers not only because of the popularity of their books, but because they've had a chance to show themselves in public--be seen to be taken seriously, be heard on panels.

The problem with "unconfrontationally assertive" is that it's a very thin knife edge to walk. Assertiveness in women is still seen as confrontational (see any of the online rows in the past few years in which women suggested that, er, um, maybe it would be nice to have more women in X--any of several Xs.) It has been the social norm that women stand politely aside and wait to be noticed; anything else is "pushy and strident." So yes, some women do not put themselves forward because they've been bashed for doing so, and no one likes a stream of abusive emails, tweets, or blog posts.

When I'm moderating a panel and one of the panelists seems shy and unable to "put herself/himself forward," I see it as the moderator's duty to make a space--time--in which that person may feel confident enough to speak--I try to help them, rather than blame them if they're shy or soft-spoken. This means restraining the confident and talky to create that space. If I can do that, so could convention committees.

Certainly women also must address the problem--by talking to their publishers about opportunities to speak, and by directly contacting convention organizers with a request to be on the program--but women alone cannot solve it. The harder women push, the more they will be seen as pushy--and if they don't push hard, that stuck door will never open. Publishers should be aware of their own gender balance when making recommendations to conventions, and bring forward a balanced mix of new and more experienced male and female writers (if they're publishing only male writers, they should consider what assumptions underlie their choices.) When women are involved in organizing or planning the programs for conventions, then they should be assertive in seeking a fairer gender balance among speakers. Women can expect to be criticized for any of this, but nothing less will make a change. Change takes decades (and this situation has been under discussion for decades) but soonest started, soonest mended. Kudos to the male writers now taking a stand; we need bipartisan support.