Have you been to a conference or an event lately to hear a panel discussion and noticed that those on the stage were perhaps all white or all male? Many people — and organizations — are noticing, too, and taking action, beyond simply calling them out on tumblr or social media. In fact, there is a term for this lack of diversity: It’s called a “#manel.”
At Inkhouse, we are following the lead of organizations such as The Alliance for Business Leadership and MassBio in committing to a pledge that ensures that speaker diversity reflects the community. In fact, we have agreed to a policy for participating in or organizing events to ensure that panels:
- Seek the best and brightest to participate in the program, regardless of gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, veteran status, disability, religion or age.
- Will not be all-male or all-white during any part of the agenda.
- Are organized by more diverse teams to increase the probability of a greater diversity among speakers and attendees.
- Encourage all invited speakers who cannot participate to suggest other potential participants with an eye toward improving women and diversity among event speakers.
When Inkhouse employees are invited to participate in external events, we will:
- Not participate as a panelist or moderator if the resulting panel will be all-male or all-white.
- Strongly encourage the program’s organizers to consider their event’s inclusivity and share our events policy with them as reference.
When organizations request Inkhouse to partner or co-sponsor their event, we will require the organization to:
- Adhere to the policies outlined above. If the organization cannot do so, we would instead require a written explanation for why they cannot, including a plan to meet the goals in future years, before we will agree to partner or co-sponsor the event.
We hope other organizations will consider joining us!
