viatorsmith (lifestream)

TED, the digital world’s most prominent aggregator of big ideas, thinks it can resolve complaints that its programs are male-dominated by creating a one-off conference, TEDWomen, that focuses on ideas by and about women. From an organization that claims to be all about cutting-edge ideas, TED’s decision displays simplistic, outdated, and unenlightened thinking. Despite its good intentions, TED’s Women conference demonstrates the very discrimination it is supposed to address.

Creating a special conference just for women demonstrates that TED organizers think that “women-centered ideas,” whatever these might be, are somehow less interesting and less important than other ideas. Rather than adding more women presenters and more of women’s interests directly to TED’s center stage, organizers have created a Women’s conference to serve as arm candy for the conference about real ideas —the ideas presented by and centered on those who are not women, a group otherwise known as men.