PHP Central Europe was canceled due to conflicts with gender diversity

PHP Central Europe (phpCE), the event for PHP programmers in Europe Central, scheduled to take place from October 4-6 this year, was canceled due to lack of gender diversity on the speakers list.

The decision was made in the context of the conflict, as a result of which three speakers (Karl Hughes, Larry Garfield and Mark Baker) canceled their conference speeches on the pretext of turning the conference into a 'men's' club, in which women are not welcome.

The conflict developed around the disproportionate number of women among the speakers (This year no reports were approved, and in the past there was only one female participant, which is disproportionate to the DrupalCon conference, where women speak quite actively.)

Some speakers considered this situation incorrect and suggested changing the situation, They argued that among women there are very good specialists who could make presentations, but the conference had the image of a men's club and therefore, women omit the event.

Advocates for gender diversity have suggested helping find women who can make good presentations. If necessary, the willingness to cede their places to these women was expressed, having reduced their reports,

In fact, the pitch was very high at the phpCE 2019 launch in Dresden, Germany. The event program was criticized for the total absence of women, while some speakers were scheduled twice.

CFP Land founder Karl Hughes's tweet sparked a flurry of critical comments.

This year's @phpce_eu conference seems to have gone with the "White Males Only" conference lineup?

Shame. It's 2019, we can do better.

- Karl L Hughes (@KarlLHughes) July 17, 2019

"I sent a message to the organizers asking them to abandon some of our double sessions for more female participation," said Larry Garfield, an active member of the Drupal community. "We also proposed to work with them to find ways to reduce the cost of our visit so that they can offer more speakers."

“Unfortunately, the organizers indicated that they were not open to such an agreement. According to them, only one woman submitted a session proposal this year, although women were present in previous years.

His was a rehearsal for a local conference last year. They were also convinced that the call for documents was over and that they weren't ready to contact new people now. Unfortunately, from what the organizers told me, they don't want to raise awareness. "

Organizers received public criticism as a crime, a response that disappointed many of those who were considering attending the event.

Speakers began to withdraw from the conference and ticket sales stopped. Mark Baker, one of the speakers, said organizers had tried to persuade him not to withdraw, proposing to include the only candidate in the program.

Baker said he was uncomfortable that it would put a lot of pressure on the woman, as he was invited to speak after the announcement of a list of all male speakers.

«It was not an easy decision to make, because I like to share my passion for programming; But as I've been advocating for diversity at PHP developer conferences for the past few years, I must follow my belief that diversity should be the cornerstone of the PHP developer community, "said Baker. “Diversity is more important to me than talking. «

Conference organizers chose the defensive in their responses to criticism on social media, preferring instead what the community viewed as an outdated and ineffective approach to organizing more diverse events.

phpCE did not post a message explaining why the event was canceledInstead, he cited various blog posts and social media exchanges as factors in this decision.

Finally, as a personal comment, I can say that knowing about this leaves a lot to think about, because today having this type of gender problems is quite bad because if you are a man or a woman it does not have to matter in the end, we must live in a egalitarian society and not disqualify people for their gender. If we share knowledge, the important thing is that sharing.