Action Alert | GenderAvenger Joins Access Now to Call Out the RSA Cybersecurity Conference

photo credit: Michael Himbeault [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr

There’s another big tech conference on the horizon, and things aren’t looking good. Access Now picked up on the poor keynote balance at the RSA Conference on cybersecurity —  only 1 woman out of 22 keynotes — and wrote an open letter to the organizers demanding they do better.

Facebook's chief security officer, Alex Stamos, responded by organizing an already sold out conference with Google and other major tech companies, where women will be front and center.

We are excited about the message the alternative conference will send. We are adding our unique voice by asking RSA to change its lineup and invite the women speakers from its half-day Securing Diversity session to share their expertise from the main stage. If, as RSA says, "diversity is actually core to making good organizations great”, these women experts should be addressing the entire audience — not siloed on panel about diversity.

Hey @RSAConference, why don’t you put your “Securing Diversity” speakers on the main stage if diversity is so important? 1 woman keynoting out of 22 is just wrong. h/t @accessnow #genderavenger #RSA #RSASoMale https://www.genderavenger.com/blog/action-alert-genderavenger-access-now-call-out-rsa-cybersecurity-conference