Who do you think of when asked for a referral?

You know qualified women. Why not appoint them?

Author note: Leia este artigo em Português.

This article was originally posted in Portuguese at the Code Like a Girl blog linked above.

PyLadies at PythonBrasil [12]

I’ve given several lectures during 2017, and it has become common for people to call me to and invite me to lecture on other events, to be a hackathon mentor, to organize events, and other things in the like. Sometimes my schedule doesn’t allow me to accept the invitations as I would like, and then these people ask me the crucial question: Could you appoint someone we could invite?

And then, I find myself scrolling through my contact list to find people who can fit the event proposal. Most of the time, the people I indicate are close to me. And that’s fine. The problem comes when ALL the indications I want to make are men. And look, there are plenty of extremely qualified women on my contact list (and Telegram groups).

I hadn’t given a second thought about this matter for a long time, and maybe you too may not have thought about it. After reading a lot, watching videos, and talking to people about inclusiveness, sexism, and diversity, the penny finally dropped: It’s not enough to indicate a woman, it’s also necessary to show that she is the one that has to be there.

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