Digital: Its not just toys for the boys
So imagine this. You live in a country where 50% of the people are pink and 50% of the people are brown. You arrange a conference on the meaning of life but only get pink people to present. Maybe you let a few brown folk into the audience. If they are lucky they might get to ask a question. And then you wonder why the brown folk are a bit peeved?
Extreme it may seem but in the last week I’ve experienced that twice. Forget pinks and browns, we’re talking men and women. Last week I attended the Dublin Web Summit, a major conference in Trinity College Dublin with over 400 in attendance. Some great international speakers from wordpress and craigslist, some interesting local speakers from digital start-ups, but not an X chromosome on the platform. Even the chair/facilitator was male. (Which is often how many conferences squeeze in their token woman). So maybe you think the answer is there are no women in digital media or the Internet? Lists of outstanding women from national and international companies based right here in Ireland or available a flight away from UK, France, Germany, Spain and Brussels. The predominately male audience were happy enough. Someone nodded when I remarked on it but said what did it matter if it was interesting? Well think about the pink and brown land. Why exclude half the world when you are bringing together ‘people’ to discuss the future?
So you might say that is a blip and anyway the web space is very techy and biased to men, right? So then on Monday evening I head to the Royal Irish Academy and their Craig Barrett lecture for again some 400 in the Mansion House. Barrett was excellent, provocative, articulate and stimulating. But then the RIA did something strange and invited four people to respond to Barrett’s speech (they had been given it in advance I assume) and they had prepared short speeches. Great idea. They came from four walks of life; education, science, labour and local government. Only problem was they were all men. In the audience were some of the most outstanding women in Ireland - women who lead university faculties, research centres, government departments, women who run public and private enterprise, who employ hundreds, invent patents and create solutions. Barrett offered us his ten point plan for rescuing Ireland which revolved around smart people (education), smart ideas (creativity and innovation) and a supportive environment (to make things happen). I offer an additional one to the list. That none of this makes any sense unless Ireland is committed to full participation of all people in our society, regardless of gender, race or background. We have to see an end to male only platforms and national discussions which exclude rather than include. Ireland’s creative ’smart economy’ needs men and women working together and needs to showcase our full potential and leverage it. Women need to be 50% of our decision-makers; in politics, industry and society. Its not about women - its simply that that is the only way we can truly grow. Both Barrett and David Beggs (in his response) talked about the Finnish model and how we can learn from them. One of the fundamental realities of Finland is gender equality and the recognition that women need to be half of all decision-makers - not tokens or status symbols - but 50:50. Our daughters and nieces deserve a better future. But even more importantly our future needs them.