TED's US and Global annual conferences, devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading", have never had an equal number of male and female presenters. Over the last 27 years, male presenters have outnumbered female presenters two to one.
This year at TED 2011, only 15 of the 55 presenters are women-- just 27%.
Because women surely have at least half of the world's big ideas, it's time for TED conferences to commit to gender parity. We want TED presenters to include an equal number of men and women.
Invite the people who choose TED speakers, the TED Curators Chris Anderson and Kelly Stoetzel, to meet with us to discuss how the TED organization can pursue its intellectual mission by fully including women. We will assemble a small team of volunteers from the SheShouldTalkAtTED (Facebook) community to meet with the TED Curators.
Tell the TED organization that women with ideas are just as important an men with ideas, and that women and men should share the TED stage equally. Sign the petition, below.
We, the undersigned fans of TED, invite you to meet with the team at SheShouldTalkAtTED to discuss how TED conferences could achieve gender parity.
Because TED conferences provide such a powerful platform for the speakers and ideas on your stage, we want that stage to be shared equally by women and men.
The success of December's TEDWomen conference demonstrated clearly that women have ideas worth spreading. There is no shortage of women with ideas worthy enough to be shared at TED's main conferences.
The SheShouldTalkAtTED team includes diversity & inclusion consultants, organizational change experts, and social justice advocates who offer you their services and their support to help TED develop a strategic plan to achieve gender parity.
Your strategy to achieve gender parity can start simply, with two commitments:
- Commit to creating a program for the 2012 TED conference that features an equal number of men and women presenters, and
- Commit to addressing how TED might become more inclusive, to eliminate whatever has kept the selection of women at less than parity.
As fans of TED, we want TED to continue to be successful. We believe that TED can become even more influential, and move the world towards justice, by making a commitment to include women as fully as men.
Please, when the team at SheShouldTalkAtTED contacts you, agree to meet with them.
Commit to TED conferences where women and men are equal. Thank you for your consideration.
