Where are women who mediate, part 2: how can you hold a panel discussion on diversity and forget to include women?
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From Mediation Channel |
Lobbed like a Molotov cocktail, Vickie’s post blew gender bias apart, as she recited a litany of examples of discrimination spanning decades against women inside and outside the legal profession.
It’s not just the persistence of gender bias that makes women like Vickie and me so damn mad. It is also its effect: it makes us invisible — so much so that it drove me to ask out loud several weeks ago, “Where are all the women who mediate?“, as I looked at an ad for a panel of 15 neutrals that included only one woman.
Now I’m asking a different question. A colleague just sent me a flyer for a workshop on diversity and conflict resolution to be held here in New England.
First the good news: the workshop leaders, all nationally prominent figures in the ADR and legal fields, are of different races and faiths.
Now the bad news: they’re all men.
So I gotta ask: how can you conduct a workshop on diversity without including at least one woman on your panel of speakers?
Well?
Biography
Diane Levin is a dispute resolution professional in the
While real-world, in-person interactions are important to her work, the internet plays an integral role. Someone who actually builds web sites for fun, Diane serves as technology consultant to mediators and other service providers. She was one of the first people in the world to blog about ADR, and for three years has published the award-winning MediationChannel.com. She also tracks and catalogues ADR blogs world-wide at ADRblogs.com, where she has created a community for bloggers writing about constructive ways to resolve disputes.
The views expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Resourceful Internet Solutions, Inc., Mediate.com or of reviewing editors.
