What’s in a representative panel?

The meetings industry is paying attention to imbuing gender diversity on conference panels, but association heads say diversity should go beyond gender and content must take priority

More women are taking on leadership roles and membership in associations. At the Australian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE), for instance, women make up 50 per cent of the membership; women dominate the Philippine Council of Association and Association Executives (PCAAE) Board of Trustees with a 4:9 male/female ratio but less so at the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia Pacific (ADFIAP) with an 8:5 male/female ratio of the Secretariat staff.

So as women become more visible in their industry, meetings delegates expect more of them featured on conference panels, speaker line-up and even in the organising committee, a tough challenge for associations including the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

CEO Mario Hardy said PATA has an internal goal of having at least 30 per cent female leaders on every event panel. “We obviously are trying to get as much as we possibly can but it also depends on the topics, on the part of the world,” he pointed out.

At the leadership debate during the PATA Annual Summit 2019 in Cebu City in May, Hardy said there was “one (woman) out of four panelists, but 50-50 would have been better.”

“As you know, there is that diversity already at the top level so trying to attract the right individuals is always a bit of a challenge. But we try to make greater effort and I think we will achieve that this year,” Hardy added.

AuSAE CEO Toni Brearley said her association does not have a specific gender mix on conference panels, “but we are conscious to ensure that we are reflecting our membership (which is 50 per cent female) in all of our conference programmes”.

Brearley added: “In Australia we have a strong focus on ensuring that conference panels and speakers are balanced and there are some organisations that have been established to promote female speakers. However, I will say that I think women need to come forward, be confident and volunteer for as many opportunities that they can.”

Agreeing, PCAAE founder and CEO Octavio Peralta said that while his association doesn’t have specific goals on male/female speaker percentage, “we consider it ideal to have a 50-50 gender balance”.

“There is a conscious effort to ensure equal gender representation in conference speaking and organising committee roles. But more than conscious effort, I think there is need to eventually set written policies in this regard,” he said.

Jane Vong Holmes, Gaining Edge senior manager – Asia, however, cautioned that “the quality of the programme should not be compromised in order to appear politically correct”.

“In conferences and meetings, content is always king, and therefore the emphasis is on getting best in class to present or speak,” she pointed out.

“Speakers and panelists, to the best of my knowledge, have always been selected based on their merits. In some industries, there are more male practitioners than female, and vice versa. In our own meetings industry, there are more female professionals in this field. Naturally, there can be more female speakers and panelists in this business,” Vong Holmes shared.

Gender balance is just that – balance – and not a competition between genders. As Hardy explained: “I think what’s important is to make sure we have the voice of both male and female represented but also in terms of age diversity, ethnicity, etc. It’s not only male versus female, it’s not competition. It’s a question of having the right individual to share what is important to the industry”.

Vong Holmes added: “All convention organisers and event owners want to reach out to every participant as much as possible. As such, there should be equal focus whether it is age, gender, or physical attributes. To neglect any one segment will mean a lower level of inclusion.”

Added AuSAE’s Brearley: “As event organiser and leaders of industry, it is our duty to ensure we are accurately representing all those voices in the industries that we represent.

“We must strive to gather opinions and voices from all of our members no matter what gender, race or stage of career. If we only seek voices from one demographic, we are not doing our jobs as leaders”.

Peralta noted that “gender equality has been a mainstream topic” in both the West and Asia, and associations are now responding more openly and being more inclusive.

“Even the term ‘gender’ has itself evolved from only male/masculine and female/feminine to now being more than 50 from what I have read somewhere. Gender is now determined by the norms and culture of a society and this varies across the world,” Peralta said.

So, does the level of attention given to gender equality vary from the West and Asia?

“If you are referring specifically to speakers and panelists, I don’t think the variances are geographical, but profession-related,” said Vong Holmes.

Aptly, Mary Lizabeth Lu, said that the Game Developers Association of the Philippines, of which she is executive director, rarely attracts women as leaders or members. But that does not detract her from gracing conferences as a speaker and panelist despite the male-dominated nature of her industry.

“More than anything else, it is profession-related,” Lu averred.

Vong Holmes said: “If you mean attention to the need for gender balance generally in society, then yes, there is a difference, and also a growing awareness. Some cultures – be it East or West – are more conservative and it will take time, and will power (to change).”

Hardy observed that in many countries in the western world, there has been more pressure to add more female voice at the senior level than in Asia.

And it’s cultural. “If you go back into histories and certainly to countries like Japan, South Korea and China where the female voice is less represented for a long time, it takes time to change people’s habits or assumptions. It doesn’t change overnight,” said Hardy.

“There’s a lot of history behind it and history builds up but I think it is improving, maybe fast enough and maybe not. There’s more talks about it, more consciousness on having the female voice at board levels, on the association levels and industry levels, not only in tourism but other sectors as well,” Hardy said.

Brearley offered a parting shot on this topic: “We recognise that diversity extends beyond gender and ensuring we have speakers that cover a range of demographics – including emerging leaders. It is also important to encourage women to speak. We are in a privileged position to provide these opportunities and therefore ensure that we do so.

“As has often been said, “you can’t be what you can’t see”. We have the ability to provide a platform for women to be seen – and to encourage the next generation.”