This is a serious question that I had to make a throwaway to ask:
How does someone determine what the 'right' balance is of gender, race, etc, for their given event?
It seems like people often pick 50% female and 50% male, but why?
What if their field is 90% male to begin with? What if their field is 90% female to begin with?
It doesn't make sense for me to hire programmers and ensure they are 50% female just as it doesn't make sense for me to hire psychologists and ensure they're 50% male. If you want more females to be interested in software, why don't you encourage it when they're young, rather than trying to force your conference to over-represent them over the baseline.
How does someone determine what the 'right' balance is of gender, race, etc, for their given event? It seems like people often pick 50% female and 50% male, but why? What if their field is 90% male to begin with? What if their field is 90% female to begin with?
It doesn't make sense for me to hire programmers and ensure they are 50% female just as it doesn't make sense for me to hire psychologists and ensure they're 50% male. If you want more females to be interested in software, why don't you encourage it when they're young, rather than trying to force your conference to over-represent them over the baseline.