After sitting on a series of all-male conference panels, Owen Barder started answering speaking invitations with more than a yes or no.

在参加了一系列会议上全是男性的小组讨论后，欧文•巴尔德(Owen Barder)开始不再只用可以或不行来回复发言邀请了。

I got into the habit of writing back and saying: ‘Have you thought about inviting a woman instead?’ says Mr Barder, director of the Center for Global Development in Europe, a research group.

我养成了写回信的习惯，在回复时表示：‘你考虑过邀请一位女士来代替吗？’巴尔德称。他是研究组织欧洲全球发展中心(Center for Global Development in Europe)主任。

He is not alone in pointing out the predominance of conference panels consisting of men.

他并不是唯一一个指出会议上的小组讨论明显由男性主导的人。

Hundreds of posts submitted to a Tumblr social media account show photographs of all-male panels.

提交给Tumblr社交媒体某个账户的数以百计帖子展示了全部由男性组成的小组讨论的照片。

Accompanying each post is the headline: Congrats, you have an all-male panel! along with an ironic depiction of masculinity in the form of actor David Hasselhoff giving a thumbs-up.

每个帖子都配有标题：恭喜，你们举行了一次全是男人组成的小组讨论！还有讽刺男子气概的配图——男演员大卫•哈塞尔霍夫(David Hasselhoff)竖起大拇指。

The dearth of women in public speaking reflects broader issues, from the lack of female chief executives to the predominance of men on corporate boards, particularly in industries such as technology, engineering, investing and financial services.

从缺少女性CEO到男性主导企业董事会，公开发言中缺少女性的现象（特别是在科技、工程、投资和金融服务等行业）反映出了更广泛的问题。

Historically men have dominated panels, and this isn’t surprising when you look at senior leadership in organisations and see mostly white men, says Anna Beninger, research director at Catalyst, a non-profit body dedicated to promoting workplace diversity.

历史上，男性一直主导着小组讨论，你看看组织高层大部分都是白人男性，就不会对此意外了，致力于推动职场多元化的非盈利组织Catalyst的研究主管安娜•贝宁格(Anna Beninger)称。

All-male panels are now prompting criticism that makes them a public relations liability for organisations running events.

如今全部由男性组成的小组讨论引起了外界批评，使其成为主办方的公关责任。

In Sweden, a campaign with the label #TackaNej (which translates roughly as no thanks) is attracting supporters, from media personalities to academics and entrepreneurs, who refuse to take part in conferences and panel discussions that have no female speakers.

在瑞典，一场带有标签#TackaNej（大致译为不，谢谢）的活动吸引着从媒体人士到学者和企业家等各界支持者，他们拒绝参加没有女性发言者的会议和小组讨论。

GenderAvenger, a US-based campaign group, uses crowdsourcing to collect data on the gender balance of conference panels.

总部位于美国的活动组织GenderAvenger利用众包模式来搜集有关会议小组讨论性别平衡的数据。

Its app allows conference speakers and attendees to enter the gender balance of a panel, using the event’s hashtag and title.

该组织的App让会议发言者和与会者利用会议标签和名称来输入小组讨论的性别平衡统计。

The app creates a pie chart showing the ratio of men to women, which can be posted instantly on Twitter or Facebook.

该App会制作一个显示男女比例的饼状图，可以直接在Twitter或Facebook上发布。

GenderAvenger has an online Hall of Fame and a Hall of Shame that uses Twitter hashtags to solicit information tracking how organisations are performing when it comes to the gender diversity of their events.

GenderAvenger设立了在线荣誉堂和耻辱堂，利用Twitter标签获取信息，追踪会议组织者举办活动时在性别多元化上的表现。

We are all about calling it out, says Susan Askew, co-founder of the group.

该组织的共同创始人苏珊•艾斯丘(Susan Askew)称，我们只是把情况说出来。

A dearth of women speaking at events poses much more than a PR problem, say campaigners.

活动人士称，会议活动中缺少女性发言的现象绝不仅是公关问题。

When you only have men on a panel, it suggests that women’s perspectives aren’t relevant — they literally don’t have a voice in these settings, says Ms Beninger. It also reinforces the perception that women don’t have the skills necessary to sit on a panel.

小组讨论中只有男性，暗示女性的观点不相干——她们在这些场合真的没法表态，贝宁格称，这也强化了女性不具备参加小组讨论的必要能力的观点。

In addition, all-male panels mean young women in the audience have no role models of their own gender to look to.

此外，全部为男性的小组讨论意味着年轻女性观众没有可以参照的女性榜样。

One of the reasons this anomaly is attracting attention is that, while an absence of women at board meetings or in an office might pass unnoticed by those outside an organisation, panels are very public demonstrations of gender diversity — or the lack of it.

这种异常现象引起注意的原因之一是，小组讨论是性别多元化（或者缺乏多元化）的公开展示，而董事会会议或办公室内缺少女性的情况不为外人所知。

Experts however see dangers in selecting speakers on the basis of gender.

然而，专家看到了以性别为基础选择发言者的危险。

It’s really important that women are not there only to represent the viewpoint of women but to serve as experts in their field, says Elisabeth Kelan, director of the Global Centre for Gender and Leadership at Cranfield School of Management.

克兰菲尔德管理学院(Cranfield School of Management)全球性别和领导力中心(Global Centre for Gender and Leadership)主管伊丽莎白•凯兰(Elisabeth Kelan)称，重要的是，女性参加讨论不仅是为了代表女性观点，而是作为相关领域的专家。

Moreover, conference organisers who want to include women may not always find it easy to meet gender targets.

此外，想要邀请女性的会议主办方，可能不容易达到性别平衡目标。

Since there are fewer women in senior positions in public life, it becomes that much harder to find a woman who is free and available, says Mr Barder.

由于在公共生活中处于高级职位的女性较少，找到有时间可以参加会议的女性会困难得多，巴尔德表示。

The answer is to be better organised and invite people sooner.

解决办法是更好地筹划会议，尽早发出邀请。

Including women on teams that organise events appears to help.

组织会议的团队包括女性成员似乎有所帮助。

In a 2014 study, the American Society for Microbiology found that committees with at least one woman on them were less likely than teams composed entirely of men to come up with events consisting of all-male panels.

在2014年一项研究中，美国微生物学会(American Society for Microbiology)发现，至少包括一名女性成员的委员会举办全部为男性的小组讨论的可能性，低于全部由男性组成的团队。

Resources are now available to help conference organisers find more female speakers.

如今会议组织者可以利用多种资源寻找更多的女性发言者。

For example, Women in Research, a support group, has a database of market research experts, half of whom are women.

例如，支持组织女性研究员(Women in Research)建立了一个市场研究专家的数据库，其中一半专家为女性。

One organisation has gone further: Great Women Speakers, based in Oregon, has a database comprising only female speakers.

还有一个组织走得更远：位于俄勒冈州的伟大女性发言者(Great Women Speakers)的数据库内只有女性发言者。

BiasWatchNeuro, a website that tracks the speaker composition of conferences on neuroscience — a field in which women account for about a third of workers — draws attention to events where men make up the entire panel.

追踪神经科学（女性在该领域占大约三分之一工作者）会议发言者构成的网站BiasWatchNeuro，引起了人们对所有小组讨论成员均是男性的会议的注意。

Some events organisers welcome the campaigns aimed at ending all-male panels.

一些会议组织者对终结全男性小组讨论的努力表示欢迎。

The trend is positive, says Leo von Bülow-Quirk, managing director for Europe at Chartwell, a global speakers agency.

趋势是积极的，全球演讲者代理机构Chartwell的欧洲区董事总经理莱奥•冯•比洛-夸克(Leo von Bülow-Quirk)表示。

But he adds: We still have a long way to go.

但他补充称：我们仍然有很长的路要走。