With International Women’s Day taking place last weekend, I’ve been reminded of a couple of industry events I attended late last year. I thought I’d posted on LinkedIn at the time about the poor female representation, but I can’t find those posts now. So while we’re celebrating women, it’s worth making the point again – because it’s still an issue.

The content at the events was… okay. One was a major IT channel/distributor event – and it was probably a bit too panel-heavy for me. The other event was run by a storage vendor and I was soon bored of tech product-and-feature talk (I only stayed for the excellent afternoon keynote). Both brought together people from a multitude of IT companies. Unfortunately, almost everyone on stage was male.

At the first event, it was well into the afternoon before the first female presenter took the stage. And the day was almost over before we saw a panel that wasn’t an all-male line-up.

The number of “manels” (all-male panels) was so noticeable that I started to keep a tally. At the end of the day the final speaker count was 30 men and 4 women. Thirty to four. In 2025. In a sector that claims to value progress and innovation.

At the second event, the only woman on stage had opened the event and quickly handed over to male colleagues. We didn’t hear a female voice again until after the lunchtime break.

To be fair, I’ve attended some really good events recently that have been far more balanced. That just proves it can be done. But those two stood out – for all the wrong reasons.

Yes, IT is still a very male-dominated industry. But that’s not an excuse for putting on events that simply mirror the imbalance. If anything, it’s a reason to work harder to widen the pool and to champion the diverse voices that are out there.

And to be clear: I’m quite happy to have my share of the limelight. But I’m a middle-aged, white, straight man. If someone else can bring a different perspective to the table, I’ll happily stand aside. We don’t move our industry forward by hearing the same voices over and over again.

There are organisations trying to change things. For example, techUK committed to ending “manels” back in 2017 and reaffirmed that commitment in 2020. For March 2026, they have a TechTogether campaign that is:

“Celebrating what organisations are doing to support diversity, equity, and inclusion, while acknowledging how much more needs to be done.”

And Thoughtworks has written about the importance of bringing diverse voices to tech conferences. But that was back in 2020 - and the events I described earlier make it clear that progress is still too slow.

So a simple ask for event organisers: try to make your events diverse. I know it’s not always easy. But if your speakers are mostly white men, and your panels are all “manels”, it might be worth reconsidering your line-up.

Events shape narratives, and narratives shape culture. If we want a more inclusive industry, we need to start by changing what – and who – we put on stage.