No More All-White Panels

Last week, the children’s and young adult literature community had an important conversation about the whiteness of panels. This was a follow-up to a conversation about the maleness of panels, and it was quickly pointed out that it shouldn’t have been a follow-up at all, and the fact that it’s an afterthought is part of the problem.

I’m a relatively new member of the children’s and young adult literature community, and so I’ve never been invited to speak on any panels (yet!). But I’ve been in the world of technology for long enough that I’m invited to speak as part of a panel or a talk series on a monthly basis, and so I want to open this conversation in the world of technology.

The tech community is reasonably aware of its gender inequality, but at the same time, all-male panels and speaker series remain far too common. And when I am invited to speak, I am usually the only woman.

But gender parity is far from tech’s only diversity and inclusion issue.

Just two weeks ago I spoke as a part of a speaker series that, as I only realized when I started hearing the conversations in the literature community, was all-white. What makes this even more absurd is that tech is a world where “White and Asian” is talked about as though they are a single demographic.

As someone who tries her best to be intersectional in her feminism, and who tries to be an ally, it’s ridiculous that I didn’t notice this until it was too late to do anything about it.

So, in an effort to rectify this going forward, I pledge to never again be a part of an all-white panel or speaker series. I plan to do this by asking who else is a part of the speaker series before I agree to be on it, and if the panel is all-white, I will refuse to participate, offering names of other engineers of color they can ask in my stead.

This is not a new concept. There are some companies, conferences, and organizations that are already doing this well, and with this pledge, we have the power to make change within the ones that aren’t. I ask you to please make this pledge with me. We have so much work to do in the world of diversity and inclusion, and this is something that is actionable today. There is no need for all-white or all-male panels and speaker series in the world of technology.

Click here to Tweet this pledge, or comment on this page, and please share. This only works if we’re all in it together.