Better Think Tanking #6
What a week! Twitter timelines (and hearts) full of international women’s day content, and more people are joining the fight for equality every year. So what’s the state of gender debates in think tanks and how can we move forward?
Gendered Think Tank Careers
“While women have risen in the administration of think tanks, they are still poorly represented as senior experts, directors, and presidents of think tanks.”
A study on women in European think tanks by the German Marshall Fund finds that leadership and content work remain male-dominated. And since a good chart speaks volumes, here you go:
This echoes findings about security think tanks in D.C. and many other fields, which show that positions of power, prestige, and high pay are usually the last to be opened to women and marginalized groups - in contrast to underpaid activism and care work.
According to the GMF study, think tanks have been relatively immune to diversity discussions. But as key policy influencers, their work “should reflect the diversity of the societies they are part of”. The authors call for a chance, and practical tips include:
A diversity-and-inclusion committee to advise leadership.
Making diversity part of the vision and mission.
Paying internships or traineeships for a more diverse talent pipeline.
Eliminating all-male panels and authorship.
Establishing clear criteria for promotions.
Addressing discriminatory hiring and human-resources practices.
Creating a more inclusive, flexible work environment.
We’re wondering about the reasons for this striking divide and ways to overcome it. Check out our newsletter issue #4 on discussion culture, #3 on overcoming biases, #2 on allyship, and #1 on listening.
Why I Don’t Follow White Men on Twitter
Twitter is a popular tool for think-tankers to promote their work and expertise. The above study contains an interesting piece of research:
“With few exceptions, female think-tank experts have less influence in Twitter than their male counterparts.”
In general, women are followed and retweeted less on Twitter and have about half the followers than men, although they make up the majority of Twitter users.
“An average man is almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman. Similarly, an average woman is 25% more likely to follow a man than a woman". These findings came as no surprise, as we have long witnessed our peers’ interaction patterns (and it seems there’s a gendered dimension to the use of the like-button).
When Shannon Coulter saw how little influential people amplify women’s and non-binary voices on Twitter, her takeaway was: Don’t follow (other) white men on Twitter (until they follow you).
She calls this constructive disinterest: “the strategic decision to ignore, unfollow, mute, walk away from, and otherwise withdraw from lopsided power dynamics for the purpose of encouraging broader equity”.
Pro-tip: You can still add people to private lists to stay informed about their debates, even without following them. What does your Twitter feed and that of people you follow look like?
Gender, Think Tanks, and International Affairs
“Embedding inclusive research, convening and communication practices is not just ‘the right thing to do’. When diversity and inclusion initiatives succeed, organizations are more resilient, innovative and better at decision-making.”
Chatham House, the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy, and the British American Security Information Council have compiled a comprehensive new toolkit.
It helps think tanks focus “not just on women’s representation, but on the structures and systems that perpetuate biases and inequalities”. Their five top-tips:
Involve the whole think tank.
Gender equality is everyone’s responsibility. The burden should not fall on any individual or group to make change alone.
Be intersectional. See gender in relation to ethnicity, race, age, social class, religion, disability, and sexual orientation.
Be consistent and persistent to create a culture shift.
Collect data and share best practices for creating change and monitoring progress within the whole sector.
They also include useful best practice examples, resources, and a variety of practical checklists on how to develop an organizational action plan, ensure event accessibility, gender-sensitive research, communications, and more.
A Toolkit for Everyone
Brussels Binder Beyond has a set of toolkits to increase diversity and women’s representation in the think tank world, including on how to promote women’s voices as a male ally (as an event moderator, organizer, participant, or colleague), how to improve gender balance at conferences, and how to increase your visibility as a woman.
Their guide on why diversity matters explains why Europeans need to do more: less than 5% of events in Brussels feature non-white speakers.
The following tips for event moderators are worth highlighting:
Stress professional qualifications rather than personal details of the speakers in introductions, make sure to pronounce the speakers’ names correctly, and don’t comment on their name(s) and identity(ies).
Closely watch the speaking time of each panellist to offer the same speaking opportunities to all. Pay attention to speaking order and switch it up.
During Q&A, ensure questions are not too long and people refrain from making statements (vs. asking questions). Consider providing a short break after the panel and ask people to peer review questions with the person sitting next to them.
Have good visibility of the entire audience and proactively look for non-white, non-male, young audience members to ask the first question in order to encourage diverse participation.
Consider stating that you are looking for diverse perspectives and encourage people to raise their hands. But make sure to use neutral language when pointing at members of the audience who want to ask a question and treat everybody equally.
All of these should be no-brainers, but we’ve experienced otherwise. A final tip from Brussels Binder Beyond: Monitor speakers’ time to raise awareness with tools like lookwhostalking.se or arementalkingtoomuch.com.
German: Gedankenarbeit teilen!
Meist unbezahlte care work wird überwiegend von Frauen geleistet. Sie beinhaltet Gedankenarbeit ("mental load"), die sich hinter Haushaltsführung, Kindererziehung und co. verbirgt und sich auch am Arbeitsplatz wiederfindet. Denn nicht alle investieren gleich viele Gedanken und Energie in das Wohlbefinden ihres Teams und ihrer Kolleg:innen.
Doch warum leisten Frauen den Großteil der Gedankenarbeit? Weil Mädchen meist so sozialisiert werden, dass sie sich mit einer häuslichen Rolle identifizieren. “Sich um andere sorgen” ist sozial erwünscht, wird belohnt und wird somit fast zum zwanghaften Verhalten. In ihrer Kolumne beschreibt Teresa Bücker die Herausforderung und zeigt mögliche Auswege.
What We Are Thinking About
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Theresa & Sarah