This is a mad world or the road to hell is paved with good int | THE CONFERENCE

This is a mad world or the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

This year the PHP Central Europe Conference won’t happen. It was canceled. The thing is, the Internet foamed with hatred. The organizers of the conference were blamed in diversity discrimination. It turns out that only white men were announced as speakers. And no women.

(No jokes! )

The organizers noted that anyone could apply for a speech, and only one woman filed an application with the same lecture that she had given last year.

Internet warriors were not at a loss. They said that organizers MUST persuade women and representatives of different ethnic groups to join the conference and speak.

Like, “Hey, we have not enough women in the list, please, join”

Some quotes:

"In portraying a wholly male speaker line-up, the organizers indicate that this conference is for men, even if that was not their intent. Many potential attendees, particularly those from minority groups, will look at that line-up and conclude that the conference is not for them. They aren’t just looking at the talk content; they are looking for role models, people like them, people to inspire them… and they don’t see that in a male-dominated line-up. And any technical conference such as PHPCE is much more than simply a sharing of technical ideas. It is an event for socializing, and for networking. And those potential ticket-buying attendees from minority groups will be dissuaded from buying tickets if they believe that the event is simply a gathering of men."

"This is a bad take. it's on you the conference to make sure that you are reaching out to diverse speakers. I probably wouldn't feel comfortable speaking at your event given these responses FWIW."

"Following on from Larry’s withdrawal I had a further email exchange with the organizers, during which they offered to accept that one additional proposal that they had received from a woman. It’s somebody that I know, that I have heard speak before, and I know her to be a very confident and capable speaker with good technical knowledge to share. But that then puts a lot of pressure on the woman, knowingly being invited to speak after an all-male speaker list has already been announced, making her a “token” to diversity, and that isn’t a good thing either."

Please, confirm humanity.