I have just got back from the IATEFL conference in Manchester, UK where we held our third awards ceremony. While people were arriving, early birds set about blowing up balloons, preparing paper streamers and gathering the names and addresses of those attending. We then kicked off with a short history of the list. This year, for example, saw the creation and archiving of a webinar especially prepared to support women thinking of giving a plenary or keynote speech for the very first time. I gave thanks and a gift (courtesy of NILE. Thanks NILE!) to the four people who made our webinar possible (Susan Barduhn, Simon Greenall, Jenny Johnson and Mercedes Viola). Actually Simon couldn’t be with us but sent a great message for me to read out to the assembled group.

We then celebrated the people on the 2014 list noting how the numbers on the list are happily growing each year. Yippee! (Please see the History page for those on the list of organisers of balanced EFL events in the UK for 2014.)

The group stayed on for an awareness-raising activity. This year it involved guessing and discussing the nationality and work of and connection between ten women named on a handout. The surprises for many were the discoveries that they were all Nobel Prize winners, and, to note the relative numbers of women and men Nobel laureates. As some people wanted to have their own copy of the activity I have added it as a pdf download.

So, another year of sweet success, more and more events on the list and more and more people getting in touch!
Great!

Tessa Woodward
Founder of The Fair List