Gentlewomen's ClubHow many times have you been in rooms full of women discussing gender equality matters among themselves and very much agreeing with each other on the trillion things that need changing in order to achieve full equality?
It’s high time we changed this echo chamber mentality and focused on inclusive and meaningful conversations.
At the Gentlewomen’s Club, we are launching a new concept of #debateseries, where we ask our members to come accompanied by a male guest, so we can have 50/50 men and women in the room. We also ask all participants to abide by the Chatham House rule, in order to allow for the widest range of views to be expressed in a safe environment.
So what is this debate format? It’s got all the ingredients of a classical debate: a motion, a debater in favour of the motion, a debater against the motion and a moderator. Participants are encouraged to interact and ask questions and debaters are given the same amount of time to argue their points. We monitor impact of the discussions, by asking participants at the beginning of the debate how they would answer the motion being debated, and at the end of it, to see how opinions may have changed.
First debate takes place this Thursday and the first motion to argue: Has #metoo gone too far? Expect it to be passionate and revealing of the private and public conversations that have taken place in our societies over the past few years.
Stay tuned and let us know if you’d like to get involved in one of our future debates.
Sabina Ciofu
Gentlewomen’s Club co-founder
