Reactions to ‘The Fair List’ so far

 

When people hear about The Fair List, there are many different reactions. Some people say, ‘Great! Yes! Time we did something about this!’ Below is a pastiche of other reactions recorded. If you would like to offer a wise or witty response to any of them, please email us!

  • ‘This is all very 1960s and 1970s, isn’t it? I mean, didn’t we deal with all this years ago?’cartoon2pb
  • ‘I went to a conference the other day. There were loads of women there.
    There were women workshop leaders and women plenary speakers too. Well, there were two women plenary speakers actually. I mean that’s not bad, is it?’
  •  ‘But surely it doesn’t matter if it’s a woman or a man. You just want the best person for the job, don’t you?’
    cartoon4pb
  •  ‘As an event organizer, I invite speakers who have a good publishing and/or university track record.’
  • ‘Why aren’t you campaigning for people who wear glasses or people who are left handed or for blind people?’
  • ‘Are you a feminist then?’
  • ‘But things are getting better. Don’t you think the situation will just improve on its own?’
  • ‘There are loads of women specialists in the area of young learners and not many in ELT testing and assessment, so it’s swings and roundabouts really.’
  • ‘Men attract better audiences so, as an event organizer, I just give participants what they want.’
  • ‘It’s women’s fault if they don’t put themselves forward.’
  • ‘I organised an event and asked lots of women to speak and none of them accepted my invitation. What am I supposed to do?’
    cartoon1pb
  • ‘Women have too many child care problems. Too much to do.’
  • ‘I am scared of putting myself forward. Look what happened to Mary Beard when she spoke up. And what about those women student debaters who were shouted down at Glasgow University. Dreadful! I’m not risking that kind of attack!’ (See  ‘Radio and Mixed links’ page for leads on these two occurrences.)