It's been brought to my attention, publicly and privately, that the finalists for the various categories in the Agnosticism / Atheism Readers' Choice Awards are lacking in diversity (mostly). All I can say is: yeah, you're right, the finalists are almost entirely white and male and, yeah, you're right that that's a problem.
That's partly my fault. If I had been paying closer attention, maybe I would have noticed and been able to do something about it. But there's some blame to spread around, too - how come more readers didn't submit a more diverse selection of nominees? Yeah, you, sitting at the computer - I'm talking to you.
But it's mostly me. I'm the one doing this, so ultimately the responsibility for whatever happens lies on my shoulders.
So what should I do about it? It's easy enough to sit here and observe that there's a problem, but nodding my head agreeably doesn't accomplish much. Unfortunately, I don't actually have any answers at the moment.
For one thing, there are a lot of constraints imposed on me by the general structure of the event. I can't, for example, set my own timetable to accommodate a solution, no matter how good the solution might otherwise be.
For another, it has to be a solution that is still fair and still reflects what this is: Readers' Choice. I can't simply pick a list of finalists from a diversity hat.
So this is something that I'm going to be thinking about. Fortunately there is time to come up with a solution. And, even better, some very smart people have been trying to help by giving me advice and feedback. I think I'm much more likely have a workable, fair solution because of their kind generosity.
No comments:
Post a Comment