[okfn-discuss] The Guardian government data debate on Apr 25 - with ao. OKF's Rufus Pollock

Wed Apr 3 10:44:57 UTC 2013

On Apr 3, 2013 11:09 AM, "Mark Wainwright" <mark.wainwright at okfn.org> wrote:
>
> If the panel of 5 men is not a 1-in-32 freak occurrence, it appears
> that such panels are not very 'open' to women - since I do not think
> that women are constitutionally less interested in open data or less
> competent to take part in panels.

Panels like this aren't chosen based on interest or competency. They are
chosen based on credentials. You want people that sound interested and
competent so they attract an audience, rather than just people that are
interested and competent.

You'll notice everyone on the panel is high up in some relevant
organisation. If such people are disproportionately male, then it makes
sense for the panel to be disproportionately male. The problem would seem
to lie with the recruitment or promotion policies of those organisations
(or perhaps is even further down the chain).

Using positive discrimination to balance a panel is just treating the
symptoms and won't achieve much.
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