SXSW updates diversity policy for panels
1 longtime participant says she’s still confused about gender rules.
South by Southwest says older language on its PanelPicker website that was not updated to new guidelines may be to blame for why at least one participant raised concerns about whether the event might be disallowing panels consisting of all women or all members of the same minority group.
Leslie Wolke, founder of MapWell Studio, said she’s been a speaker, volunteer and participant at South by Southwest since 1995. She says she was distressed by language she saw on PanelPicker that led her to believe that all-women panels were no longer welcome.
“While they are careful not to state how many genders there are (another inclusive move which I respect), no 3-4 speaker panel can be comprised of a single gender,” she wrote in an email to the American-Statesman. “This is a step backward, in my opinion. To be blunt about it, not every panel needs a man. Women are still minorities at SXSW (and at all tech and design conferences I attend) and should be encouraged to participate by policies such as the former SXSW one.”
A spokesman for SXSW says that Wolke might have been viewing a pop-up window with outdated information. This week, SXSW is updating its diversity guidelines.
The new text, according to South by Southwest, reads:
“Speaker diversity plays an