You could call it a storm in a teacup, or you could call it a Rosa Parks moment. But on the morning of Tuesday, December 14, when a young lawyer opened her morning newspaper, she decided to do something more than just outrage overthe full-page announcement of a Banking Conclavewith 30 male speakers. She, and few other women, most of them from one WhatsApp group with over hundred senior women from different positions across industries, sparked a day long movement on social media. The anger and frustration of the women, and men who cared to put down their views in support, was primarily around the following-

1. This was one of the largest conferences by one of the most prestigious publications and obviously a lot of planning had gone into it. How could they not get ANY women? Were there no women in the organizing committee? How did they sign this off?
2. If the excuse was that there were hardly any CEOs left in banking, then why is that in the first place?
3. Also, not everyone of the 30 people were bankers anyway, so why was it so hard to find women speakers? Was it just laziness, or did men really not see the incongruity of it?
4. What were the sponsors thinking? Many of the sponsors were large multinational organizations, known for their commitment to diversity and inclusion at the workplace and yet, here they were, not looking too good for the money they had spent on this sponsorship.
5. The tagline of the conclave was ‘Banking OnThe Winds Of Change’ and well, what change would you expect the group of 30 men to usher in when ending exclusion in finance should be on top of the agenda for this industry.

By the afternoon, there were posts on LinkedIn, tweets on Twitter and plenty of DMs. To be fair to the organizers, they made sincere last-minute attempts to invite women and next day, the front-page poster had at least four women, if I remember correctly. The editor issued an apology. It was gracious to do so. And it stands to reason that we will see more inclusive panels at least from this publication in future. While there was much support to the efforts to draw attention to ‘manels’, there were also trolls talking about tokenism and how the world was becoming impossible because of shrill inclusion champions.

My mind went back to a conversation I had with a senior journalist a few years ago. He was literally scratching his head about putting together a panel of CEOs and not finding women CEOs. “What can I do if there are hardly any women in senior roles in banking?” was his lament. While there are no easy answers to complex social questions, I will try to put down ideas and actions that we have discussed and attempted in my career as a senior woman leader and hope that they might help.

1. Challenge when you, or someone in your team, says there are no senior women in a sector. Almost always, women are there, but are invisible. It is partly due to the low numbers, but largely due to the unconscious bias in coverage, exposure, and the reluctance of women to shrug off the invisibility cloak.
2. Get out of the equalization mindset. The fact of the matter is that women (and other groups traditionally held back from positions of power) are late entrants and therefore, theyare fewer and most likely a couple of steps behind. They are knocking on the doors, but not yet inside. Remember, the purpose of a public dialogue is to usher in a better future. Like the Mint panel said, ‘winds of change’. Change is the opposite of sameness. So be sincere, look around and find diverse voices to bring up. It was also ironic that the announcement of Leena Nair as Chanel CEO coincided with this incident. Now, if as an organizer, you would not invite the CHRO of Unilever, you would have missed out on someone-wouldn’t you?
3. While working on diversity initiatives in one of my workplaces, I learnt that real commitment to diversity will need taking calls to proactively build pipeline and to pull up the women visible in the pipeline. It was amazing to see the response of men who say, ‘what can an organizer do if there are no women?’ Apart from being crass, you sound idiotic. Being an organizer is not a medallion or a gift to society. It is a responsibility. Your sponsors and your listeners trust you to present views that are relevant and worth their time and money. And if you are recycling the same old same old, how are you doing a good job?
4. If you are a sponsor, just do not give money. Get involved. In this instance, it was embarrassing to see names that are otherwise known for their inclusion initiatives.
5. For sure, if you are a speaker, always ask who else is on the panel. Say no to manels. It’s ridiculous how many people on social media have a problem with women having problems with manels. Yes, this needs to be called out until there is representation. And yes, you will hear it from women and from other minorities and excluded groups. And you may not like it, but as a society, the world isn’t gonna go back to the good old days of unquestioned patriarchy. So, get used to the questioning and the challenge and hopefully, be part of the change.
6. If you are a woman, please step up and say yes. You may not always be comfortable being on stage, you may have other priorities, you may consider talking a waste of time (most of the time, it is), but the fact is that if you are not on that stage, most likely a man is. And you are not helping. I once asked a fine young woman who worked with me to go on a panel, which specificallyneeded a woman. She was livid. She did not want to be invited just because she was a woman. Fair enough. But darling, a whole lot of men have been occupying the seat on the table only and only because they are men (mostly also of a certain class, caste, orientation). So, there is no reason to be defensive about being there because you are a woman.
7. Equally, if you are a senior woman, it is your responsibility to groom and champion younger women. In banking, it is indeed a travesty that from having many women in senior positions across banks and the central bank, now, there are very few. Something many men pointed gleefully in the last few days. While that may be the situation for the time being, there are still many women running large businesses within these organizations as well as in neo banking and inclusion. Make women visible.

I am sure what happened last week will change the way organizers look at manels. I also hope it will encourage more women to be out there and speak, even if it is at the risk of being considered ‘reservation quota’ or ‘token representative’, being humiliated by not being introduced properly, not given fair time, mansplained, trolled, or being called attention- seeking, vain, loud or shrill. It’s fine. There may be wolves in the forest, but you got to put on that red riding hood and go out and claim that forest. It belongs to you as much as it belongs to the wolves. Also, you stand on the shoulders of women before you and you owe it to the generation of women to come after you.

About the Contributor:

Shinjini Kumar, is part of the LWL Titan community and has three decades of experience in senior positions across a regulator, fintech, banks, consulting and learning to build businesses, strategies and most importantly teams and trust. She is currently building @mysaltapp a fintech platform for women so the world of finance is a little more equitable.