Boo! Unmasking the GA Super Hall of Shamers

What's scarier than goblins and ghouls? Conferences and lists that consistently have Hall of Shame gender ratios. For Halloween, we're unmasking a few repeat offenders from the GA Hall of Shame.

Re/code

Over the course of two years, Re/code has hosted 11 events and every single event has had less than 25% women speakers. In 2014 they put 22% women speakers onstage. In 2015, the number dropped to 18% women speakers. Re/code continues to not value the voices of women: The first Re/code event in 2016, Code/media, only includes 25% women speakers so far. 

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TechCrunch's TC Disrupt

There have been five years of TC Disrupt San Francisco. In those five years, there has never been a single TC Disrupt San Francisco with more than 26% women speakers. 

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Inter-American Dialogue

Inter-American Dialogue has landed in our Hall of Shame twice. A newsletter this summer included just 2 women out of 20 featured experts, while their Leadership for the Americas Awards Gala originally featured an all-male slate of presenters and honorees. The Gala now has one woman presenter and one woman honoree. While we're happy to see progress, the Gala still has a Hall of Shame gender ratio. 

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The New Yorker

Avenger Jessica Esch has been tracking the gender ratio for New Yorker cover illustrations, Letters to the Editor, cartoons, and more since 2013 and the results have been consistently disappointing. Though there have been glimmers of progress, overall women are too often outnumbered and underrepresented. 

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Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal was in the GA Hall of Shame for their 2015 ECO:nomics conference and 2014 WSJ.DLive. Last year we reached out to the conference organizers after WSJ released an all-male speaker lineup for WSJ.D Live. Organizers promised us that more women speakers would be added soon. In the end, the 2014 WSJ.D Live lineup had only 20% women speakers. The gender ratio this year is even worse. The exchange inspired one of our Top 10 Classic Excuses from Conference Organizers: "This is just the beginning. Stay tuned."

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New York Times

In 2014, The New York Times appeared in the GA Hall of Shame twice. The Thomas L. Friedman Next New World Forum had just 15% women speakers, while the NYT Cities for Tomorrow Conference featured only 23% women speakers. In 2015, NYT Cities for Tomorrow has improved its gender ratio, but only slightly. This year's conference will include a Hall of Shame-worthy 28% women speakers.

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Dow Jones Global Compliance Symposium

In 2014, the Dow Jones Global Compliance Symposium was in the GA Hall of Shame for having 14% women speakers in its lineup. Though the name of the conference changed this year, the gender ratio stayed in the Hall of Shame with just 20% women speakers. 

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iTunes Music Festival:

There were no women featured in the email promotion of iTunes Festival 2014. This prompted us to take a closer look at how many female performers were listed to take part, and we found that only 17% of the listed acts were women. iTunes continues to undervalue the voices of women musicians at its festivals. The upcoming Apple Music Festival features seven all-male acts and three women musicians.  

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VentureBeat

VentureBeat, "the leading source for news and perspective on tech innovation," doesn't seem that innovative after organizing Hall of Shame conferences in 2014 and 2015. DataBeat in 2014 had less than 6% women speakers. GamesBeat in 2015 was slightly better but still had a dismal 15% women speakers. 

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Silicon Valley Energy Summit

Silicon Valley Energy Summit 2014, sponsored by Stanford University, boasted 43 speakers---and only 12 of them were women. In 2015 the gender ratio dropped from 28% women speakers to 22% women speakers. 

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Keep an Eye on Super Hall of Shamers

Help us track these conferences and report back on new conferences, panels, and (hopefully) progress. Download the GA Tally today and share your results with us by using #genderavenger on Twitter, leaving a comment on the GA Facebook Page, or submitting panels and events to the Hall of Shame and Hall of Fame.

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