Problem

70% of speakers at global professional events and conferences are men. Despite making up half the world’s population, women’s voices continue to be underrepresented and excluded in public discussions, forums, panels and webinars. The frequency of these instances is so striking that it has its own term: “manel”. The term refers to all-male panels and is used to highlight the exclusion of women as subject-matter experts. This is a big problem! We believe this needs to change starting today! 

Solution

Fempanel is a platform to discover women experts across industries. Bringing gender diversity to the events next to you and saying goodbye to all-male panels! We’re making this super list - where we feature experts across industries and help more conference/event organisers and journalists reach out to them.

Why are we doing this?

Aside from not being representative of the world we live in, manels have real-life consequences. When only men (and often men from a specific background) are presented as experts, the message to others is that one has to, for example, be a white man to be seen as a scientist, politician or pundit. When only a specific group is repeatedly given the space to contribute to public discussion, it risks leaving other groups out – and without relatable role models.

Impact

• As of 25 November 2022, the hub has curated and onboarded 60+ speakers and experts


• The hub has another ~250+ speakers in the pipeline 


• By end December 2022, the hub aims to onboard 100 speakers


• Early next year in Jan, we plan to do onground event around National Girl Child Day


• By Jan 2023, we aim to onboard some partners and collaborators as well who can give platforms to these women.