Our annual awards event was held at the IATEFL Conference in Birmingham, UK on April 14th 2016. Thanks to all our supporters, we had billing in the IATEFL conference programme, a nice room, balloons, streamers and bunting galore, and drinks and nibbles. It was a cheerful occasion.

What happened?
I kicked off with a welcome and a very brief history of the list. In our first awards event, held in 2013, only 5 organisations made it onto the list for EFL events held in the UK, in the year before, with good gender balance of plenary/keynote speakers or panellists. In 2014 the […]

The Fair List has an annual awards and awareness raising event. This is usually held at the IATEFL international conference in the UK in the Spring of each year. We have the rich web site that you are currently reading. On it there is a useful webinar about giving a plenary talk. All of this is extremely helpful. But it might not always be enough to support a first time woman plenary/keynote speaker or panelist at a UK ELT event, So now, with the support of The British Council, we have started up a mentoring scheme.
You will find a […]

Lots of us in the EFL/TESOL world give talks for love rather than money. So I found it interesting to come across an organisation with a rather more ‘high end’ approach. I found the web site of Speakers’ Corner, an international speaker consultation and booking Service.

The web site says,

“In a time when governments around the world are pushing legislation for equality in the boardroom, and when business, politics, sport, the media and the arts are increasingly influenced by men and women equally, corporate clients are often searching for an inspirational, powerful and successful woman to demonstrate that the […]

Good news! Sandi Toksvig, the well known Danish writer, comedian and broadcaster has set up a brand new political party in the UK. It is called The Women’s Equality Party.
You can find out more on Facebook or, if you would rather, by typing this into your browser search box: https://womensequality.org.uk.

Here are a few quotes from the WEP web site:

About Women’s Equality Party
Equality for women isn’t a women’s issue. When women fulfill their potential, everyone benefits. Equality means better politics, a more vibrant economy, a workforce that draws on the talents of the whole population and a society at ease with […]

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 […]

We are used to the idea of films being rated according to the levels of bad language, violence and nudity that they contain.
Now cinemas in Sweden have introduced a new rating based on the criterion of the inclusion in a film of properly-rounded female characters.

To be awarded an ‘A’ rating for gender equality films must pass the Bechdel Test. This test was established by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel. Different versions of the test require at least two (named?) female characters to have a conversation (for longer than 60 seconds?) about something other than a man, (and without a man […]

Along with celebrating current successes, as in our last blog post, it’s important to ensure that the future for women ELT plenary speakers is rosy. So, when I heard about an initiative in Poland on a recent visit, I asked Ania Kolbuszewska to be our next Guest Blogger so her idea could be shared. Here she is!

To say that EFL in Poland is a profession dominated by women is a platitude. On a teacher training course I was recently involved in planning and delivering, only three out of nearly 40 participants were men. The course was organised with EU financial […]

The Second One:

Seeing The Fair List nominated for an award at the British Council ELTons on the evening of May 22nd 2014, reminded me of the influence that this project has had on me as a conference organiser.

I am Shaun Wilden and am the one who is responsible for putting together the programme for the International House World Director of Studies Conference held every January in London. It’s not a huge conference in terms of numbers but one that has always aimed to offer the participants a set of thought-provoking plenaries.

In January 2013, we invited Tessa Woodward […]

The First One:

The MaWSIG (Materials Writing Special Interest Group) is the newest addition to the International Association for Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) family of SIGs. The SIG is for anyone involved in or interested in writing materials for ELT, both published writers, would be published writers or teachers writing materials for their own institutions or classes.
The IATEFL conference in Harrogate, UK in 2014 marked our first anniversary and gave us an opportunity to look back at what we had achieved in the first year.
Our first face to face event was held in Oxford in January, […]