Read on Twitter
Short thread on gender inclusivity in #activetravel. I have been struggling with this tweet for a few hours now and may still fail to get it right. I attended a @landor_links webinar on active travel infrastructure this afternoon, along with hundreds of others.
The panel consisted of 6 (white) men. This was flagged multiple times by attendees during the webinar and it was explained that a more inclusive set of speakers had been approached but weren't available.
I have had the privilege of working directly with each of these men and they are all absolutely excellent - technically competent and wonderful people. Some of my favourite people I've ever worked with, in fact. They were all the "right" people for that panel and did a great job.
But how do we square that with the multitude of factors that led to the non-diversity of that panel in the first place? It's surely wrong to gloss over those, even if we're acknowledging that these panellists, in this context, are excellent.
Factors which mean that there is a relatively tiny pool of us women working in active travel infrastructure. And that mean these women are less available if called upon. (Perhaps less willing?) Or just don't come to mind at all? Or haven't had the right experience to be asked...
How to draw attention to the issues that prevent inclusivity whilst not undermining the valuable work of [men] who are doing good work? Whose job is it to do this attention drawing? How do we all enable each other to see it as our collective job to do this work?
To reiterate, finally: @landor_links and others have made great strides in terms of inclusive panels and I am grateful. These particular men are excellent; this is not about their right to be on that panel. Gender is only one aspect of the inclusivity picture.
I'm celebrating that so many people flagged the issue! Including the panel itself... This is progress 
Any and all thoughts gratefully received. Thank you!
Any and all thoughts gratefully received. Thank you!
