Advice for The Nines

I recently wrote a post in response to The Nines catastrophe of having only 4 women out of over 110 speakers. If this was a small local deal they might have gotten away with it. But The Nines is very public. That means higher scrutiny which in turn should inspire higher integrity. Instead it has caused a storm of implicit and explicit no’s to women on one hand and a storm of advocacy for women on the other.

I have simple advice for The Nines:

1. Fair representation at the top. The board who makes the decisions should have fair representation.
2. Fair representation on the docket. If you can’t find enough women speakers to equal the number of men speakers, decrease the number of men speakers to create a just balance.
3. Build it and they will come. This is the root of the problem. I believe that if women were given equal opportunity in the church they would show up. Once this good news trickles down to young women they would aspire to fill these spaces.
4. Announce your policy of equality. Once the word is out that The Nines insists on fair representation, I believe that quite soon you would have more than enough women speakers.

Problem solved.