全男性小組討論面臨反彈

After sitting on a series of all-male conference panels, Owen Barder started answering speaking invitations with more than a yes or no.

在參加了一系列會議上全是男性的小組討論後，歐文•巴爾德(Owen Barder)開始不再只用可以或不行來回復發言邀請了。

I got into the habit of writing back and saying: ‘Have you thought about inviting a woman instead?’ says Mr Barder, director of the Center for Global Development in Europe, a research group.

我養成了寫回信的習慣，在回覆時表示：‘你考慮過邀請一位女士來代替嗎？’巴爾德稱。他是研究組織歐洲全球發展中心(Center for Global Development in Europe)主任。

He is not alone in pointing out the predominance of conference panels consisting of men.

他並不是唯一一個指出會議上的小組討論明顯由男性主導的人。

Hundreds of posts submitted to a Tumblr social media account show photographs of all-male panels.

提交給Tumblr社交媒體某個賬戶的數以百計帖子展示了全部由男性組成的小組討論的照片。

Accompanying each post is the headline: Congrats, you have an all-male panel! along with an ironic depiction of masculinity in the form of actor David Hasselhoff giving a thumbs-up.

每個帖子都配有標題：恭喜，你們舉行了一次全是男人組成的小組討論！還有諷刺男子氣概的配圖——男演員大衛•哈塞爾霍夫(David Hasselhoff)豎起大拇指。

The dearth of women in public speaking reflects broader issues, from the lack of female chief executives to the predominance of men on corporate boards, particularly in industries such as technology, engineering, investing and financial services.

從缺少女性CEO到男性主導企業董事會，公開發言中缺少女性的現象（特別是在科技、工程、投資和金融服務等行業）反映出了更廣泛的問題。

Historically men have dominated panels, and this isn’t surprising when you look at senior leadership in organisations and see mostly white men, says Anna Beninger, research director at Catalyst, a non-profit body dedicated to promoting workplace diversity.

歷史上，男性一直主導着小組討論，你看看組織高層大部分都是白人男性，就不會對此意外了，致力於推動職場多元化的非盈利組織Catalyst的研究主管安娜•貝寧格(Anna Beninger)稱。

All-male panels are now prompting criticism that makes them a public relations liability for organisations running events.

如今全部由男性組成的小組討論引起了外界批評，使其成爲主辦方的公關責任。

In Sweden, a campaign with the label #TackaNej (which translates roughly as no thanks) is attracting supporters, from media personalities to academics and entrepreneurs, who refuse to take part in conferences and panel discussions that have no female speakers.

在瑞典，一場帶有標籤#TackaNej（大致譯爲不，謝謝）的活動吸引着從媒體人士到學者和企業家等各界支持者，他們拒絕參加沒有女性發言者的會議和小組討論。

GenderAvenger, a US-based campaign group, uses crowdsourcing to collect data on the gender balance of conference panels.

總部位於美國的活動組織GenderAvenger利用衆包模式來蒐集有關會議小組討論性別平衡的數據。

Its app allows conference speakers and attendees to enter the gender balance of a panel, using the event’s hashtag and title.

該組織的App讓會議發言者和與會者利用會議標籤和名稱來輸入小組討論的性別平衡統計。

The app creates a pie chart showing the ratio of men to women, which can be posted instantly on Twitter or Facebook.

該App會製作一個顯示男女比例的餅狀圖，可以直接在Twitter或Facebook上發佈。

GenderAvenger has an online Hall of Fame and a Hall of Shame that uses Twitter hashtags to solicit information tracking how organisations are performing when it comes to the gender diversity of their events.

GenderAvenger設立了在線榮譽堂和恥辱堂，利用Twitter標籤獲取信息，追蹤會議組織者舉辦活動時在性別多元化上的表現。

We are all about calling it out, says Susan Askew, co-founder of the group.

該組織的共同創始人蘇珊•艾斯丘(Susan Askew)稱，我們只是把情況說出來。

A dearth of women speaking at events poses much more than a PR problem, say campaigners.

活動人士稱，會議活動中缺少女性發言的現象絕不僅是公關問題。

When you only have men on a panel, it suggests that women’s perspectives aren’t relevant — they literally don’t have a voice in these settings, says Ms Beninger. It also reinforces the perception that women don’t have the skills necessary to sit on a panel.

小組討論中只有男性，暗示女性的觀點不相干——她們在這些場合真的沒法表態，貝寧格稱，這也強化了女性不具備參加小組討論的必要能力的觀點。

In addition, all-male panels mean young women in the audience have no role models of their own gender to look to.

此外，全部爲男性的小組討論意味着年輕女性觀衆沒有可以參照的女性榜樣。

One of the reasons this anomaly is attracting attention is that, while an absence of women at board meetings or in an office might pass unnoticed by those outside an organisation, panels are very public demonstrations of gender diversity — or the lack of it.

這種異常現象引起注意的原因之一是，小組討論是性別多元化（或者缺乏多元化）的公開展示，而董事會會議或辦公室內缺少女性的情況不爲外人所知。

Experts however see dangers in selecting speakers on the basis of gender.

然而，專家看到了以性別爲基礎選擇發言者的危險。

It’s really important that women are not there only to represent the viewpoint of women but to serve as experts in their field, says Elisabeth Kelan, director of the Global Centre for Gender and Leadership at Cranfield School of Management.

克蘭菲爾德管理學院(Cranfield School of Management)全球性別和領導力中心(Global Centre for Gender and Leadership)主管伊麗莎白•凱蘭(Elisabeth Kelan)稱，重要的是，女性參加討論不僅是爲了代表女性觀點，而是作爲相關領域的專家。

Moreover, conference organisers who want to include women may not always find it easy to meet gender targets.

此外，想要邀請女性的會議主辦方，可能不容易達到性別平衡目標。

Since there are fewer women in senior positions in public life, it becomes that much harder to find a woman who is free and available, says Mr Barder.

由於在公共生活中處於高級職位的女性較少，找到有時間可以參加會議的女性會困難得多，巴爾德表示。

The answer is to be better organised and invite people sooner.

解決辦法是更好地籌劃會議，儘早發出邀請。

Including women on teams that organise events appears to help.

組織會議的團隊包括女性成員似乎有所幫助。

In a 2014 study, the American Society for Microbiology found that committees with at least one woman on them were less likely than teams composed entirely of men to come up with events consisting of all-male panels.

在2014年一項研究中，美國微生物學會(American Society for Microbiology)發現，至少包括一名女性成員的委員會舉辦全部爲男性的小組討論的可能性，低於全部由男性組成的團隊。

Resources are now available to help conference organisers find more female speakers.

如今會議組織者可以利用多種資源尋找更多的女性發言者。

For example, Women in Research, a support group, has a database of market research experts, half of whom are women.

例如，支持組織女性研究員(Women in Research)建立了一個市場研究專家的數據庫，其中一半專家爲女性。

One organisation has gone further: Great Women Speakers, based in Oregon, has a database comprising only female speakers.

還有一個組織走得更遠：位於俄勒岡州的偉大女性發言者(Great Women Speakers)的數據庫內只有女性發言者。

BiasWatchNeuro, a website that tracks the speaker composition of conferences on neuroscience — a field in which women account for about a third of workers — draws attention to events where men make up the entire panel.

追蹤神經科學（女性在該領域佔大約三分之一工作者）會議發言者構成的網站BiasWatchNeuro，引起了人們對所有小組討論成員均是男性的會議的注意。

Some events organisers welcome the campaigns aimed at ending all-male panels.

一些會議組織者對終結全男性小組討論的努力表示歡迎。

The trend is positive, says Leo von Bülow-Quirk, managing director for Europe at Chartwell, a global speakers agency.

趨勢是積極的，全球演講者代理機構Chartwell的歐洲區董事總經理萊奧•馮•比洛-夸克(Leo von Bülow-Quirk)表示。

But he adds: We still have a long way to go.

但他補充稱：我們仍然有很長的路要走。