The all-male panel is the scourge of many industries, raising concerns about gender-based echo chambers and passive discrimination towards women. But the recent Denver Comic Con took things to the next level with a Women in Comics panel that featured three male panelists… and no women.
The panel focused primarily on the history of women in comics, but despite claims to the contrary, it's not like there weren't any qualified women around to speak about the of their own gender. As Janelle Asselin of ComicsAlliance notes, "it seems odd that a convention with Trina Robbins, the eminent historian of women as creators and characters, as a guest would not invite her to join in on a discussion of the history of women in comics."
Things to consider: If you're making decisions about who to put on a panel—or who to hire for a job—if the pool of people in your personal rolodex is painfully homogenous, maybe it's not because more diverse options don't exist. Maybe it's because you need to diversify the portfolio of people you know.
