Panelists and Panel Moderators Should Provide Visual Diversity

I’m a little rankled about a recent posting from the NY Magazine about a panel at Davos about gender equality….and it was all men.  (We’ve talked about ubiquitous “manels“.)

The author, Jessica Roy signs off with a throwaway line: “Looks like the moderator was a woman … not sure what value she would add to a panel about women’s equality, but it’s nice to throw her a bone, I guess”.

I suppose this was said tongue-in-cheek, but it still pisses me off.  As a professional panel moderator who is often asked to facilitate panels (and manels), I am often hired specifically to provide visual diversity.  It’s not throwing me a bone…it’s providing the audience with enough diversity that vaguely resembles the audience.  The moderator is the champion for the audience…and if you are talking about gender equality, who is looking out for the audience?  Can you imagine if that panel was moderated by another white guy?  Sheesh!

Lastly, I don’t like being equated to a dog.  Dogs are nice, but women are not dogs.  We don’t eat bones…unless you piss us off.
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