What is a manel?
“A panel of experts or participants that consists of men only.”
There is a growing international movement to end ‘manels’ or ‘all-male panels’ .
Here is a link to an introductory article from the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on “‘manels’ – https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2018/12/07/mary-e-black-manels-and-what-to-do-about-them/
Key messages:
- Women are exercising leadership in all fields of life but their presence, work, opinion and expertise is not made visible.
- Women should be on the head table as panelists and not just as chairs or moderators.
- It is not just about involving women – it is about ensuing diversity in all aspects – including age, professional cadre / level etc.
- It is about making an effort to steer away from inviting the same people each time to encouraging new leaders to join the table.
- One token woman on a panel with 6 other men is not good enough. Although one is a start, we should aim for more than one or 50% representation.
- If it is a training workshop – check your facilitator and audience gender break up too. Is it 99% male?
What can men do?
- Decline to participate in all-male panels – take a personal pledge.
- Propose women panelists to organizers – be prepared with a list of women speakers in your domain
- If you are part of the organizing committee, raise this issue early and often to prevent a fiasco later.
- If you do end up in a manel then invite a woman from the audience to join the head table or politely excuse yourself from the manel.
- Do not just involve women as a token. If all the male panelists are answering questions or sharing their opinions, the women should also do the same.
- At a minimum – Apologize with sincerity to the audience for the situation, don’t try to make excuses or say you are somehow representative of women.
What can women do?
- Step up. Don’t decline an invitation to be on the panel. Other women and girls are inspired by your example. Invite yourself if no one else is inviting you. This not about personal humility, it is about setting an example and making leadership by women visible and a possibility for our peers and for future generations. .
- If you are part of the organizing committee, raise this issue early and often to prevent a fiasco later.
- If someone asks you for a speaker or panelist suggestion – first propose yourself and/or other women !
- Do not underestimate your knowledge and experience. I repeat – do not underestimate your knowledge and experience.
What can an audience member do?
- Raise you hand and ask politely ‘Just wondering, are there no women experts on this topic?”
- Walk out
- If you are a woman, invite yourself – pull up a chair and join the head table.
What can an organization do?
Several major global health organizations have pledged to a no all-male panel policy
- Lancet – https://www.thelancet.com/diversity?utm_campaign=diversitypledge&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
- NIH – https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/health/collins-male-science-panels.html
Learn more:
- A google search will yield more information and resources on the pervasiveness of manels in other fields. E.g.
https://www.bustle.com/p/all-male-panels-are-not-going-away-until-we-get-up-walk-the-heck-out-9168392
Open Source list of women panelists and speakers
Here is an openly sourced list of available women panelists and speakers for healthcare (it is currently focused on India but feel free to expand to other geographic locations).
- Please share it with your women colleagues so they can add their names to it.
- And you can refer to this list if you are ever organizing a meeting/workshop and looking for speakers or panelists.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11ptHW7oIOdco5BM8zLel7pXTUGkRkBVkYjxt7hr7qno/edit#gid=0
I hope we can all join together in this effort towards a more just and equitable society. Please share this post with others in your network, mail it to your bosses and colleagues!
Add your ideas, comments and links below to help me improve upon this post.
Thank you!
The Improvement Lab 