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Ask HN: How do we reduce the gender gap at our tech events

9 points by thehodge ↗ HN
Hey HN, I've been running tech events (barcamps, conferences, hackdays) for about five years now and I've seen the gender gap at our events fluctuate, it's a lot higher than other events I've seen (as we really push to make sure the event is welcoming, family friendly and has a great atmosphere, but I'm always wanting to improve..

I'm hesitant to have specific female tickets as I think that's an unnecessary divide but one of the options considered is giving tickets to local groups (girl geek dinners, girls who code etc) to give out to members.

I know there are a lot of other event organisers on HN and obviously a lot of girl hackers, I'd love to get thoughts and suggestions from the crowd, try things out and I'll write up if they work..

7 comments

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UnoriginalGuy
I would just focus on making it a constructive open environment where everyone feels welcome (irrespective of age, gender, or ethnic background).

I think the gender gap will surround technology for a little while longer, and I could write an essay on why that is (and what can be done). But I won't.

I would be careful with walking the line between being accepting of female inclusion and making them feel like they're VIP members who nobody can treat as equals as a result of their imposed "status." Such status can easily flip (i.e. "good" and "bad" statuses are both exclusionary).

I've seen several organisations who were typically male heavy attract female members, and it was always a slow grind which just essentially involved treating everyone like equals and with respect.

I would avoid trying to over-respect women too, since that breads resentment and sexism. It is also kind of condescending (i.e. "well I don't think you could get this on your own, so I am giving it to you").

So if you want to get some female speakers then make sure they are up to the standards you expect from their male counterparts, doing anything else is more than a little counter-productive.

PS - Also maybe come up with some basic speaker guidelines to make it clear that sexism, racism, etc (even as "jokes") are not acceptable. This might be "obvious" stuff but it still might need to get said.

danudey
Having a zero-tolerance policy for sexist, racist, etc. comments can be a big thing. A recent blog post talked about how people were posting really hateful, insensitive stuff on Facebook about a talk during the talk. Make it clear that comments of that sort won't be tolerated, and make it clear to attendees that if it does happen and is reported, it will be dealt with effectively.
orangethirty
Invite female leaders to the event. Have them do a presentation if they are willing. This will have have their network follow in automatically.

In essence: Focus on attracting key females, and the rest will follow in.

mnicole
I mentioned this in a post the other day, but I get most of my local conference/meetup information from regional female dev mailing lists I'm a part of. These groups are really good about ensuring that the whole tech community knows about what is going on in our area, and they welcome male participants to post new events and job listings whenever they come up.
codgercoder
I hope this isn't just a rewording of "where are all the girls?"
helen842000
With silicon milkroundabout jobs fair they often ask if you know of any other talented people that might be interested during the registration process.

Could you not ask people when they register for tickets if they know anyone of their opposite gender that would be interested (perhaps phrased more casually than that) So girls would recommend a guy they know and vice versa.

Even if you get a low return on e-mail addresses it may get people to question the balance of their own social network & they may start to look to balance that up next time they're at a networking event, it's true that a lot of people have to go outside of their comfort zone to do that. Most of my friends recommend events to me already but they have to make a point to remember to mention it, this would just add that element into the registration process.

I think it would remove a lot of friction to new people attending, with this method they already have a friend they know that is going so it's easy to tag along.

You could explain how you're committed to making your events equal opportunity. This will help you to hear of potentially interested people & it also opens up lines of communication in social groups where people start to share in wider circles.

I completely agree that adding specific female ticket section just makes me think sigh I'm just making up the numbers.