This reminds me -

Last year I went to a technical/professional conference where one of the highlighted topics was “Empowering Women in [Niche Technical Field X].” To my surprise, both of the speakers were men and neither had ever worked in [Technical Field X]. One was an ex-Football player. I forget what the other dude did for a living before he started the lecture circuit.

Both had daughters, though, so that apparently qualified them to speak. The other thing that qualified them was the fact that they were both men. They explained this. They needed to speak because “no one listens to women when they whine” about inclusion or equity or how to solve concrete problems.

The takeaway was: Want a voice at the table, ladies? Then ask a man to speak on your behalf and let them give the other men a good stern talking to. (And buy my book.)

Yeah, allies are great. I get it, thanks. But this was just really fucking stupid.

The conference was a mixed bag, but I left that pair a particularly blistering review on the conference feedback channel. Honestly, it was so bad that I took extra care with reviewing the other speakers just so it was clear I wasn’t a troll (or an ungrateful bitch who couldn’t understand that these guys were being super magnanimous).

At least my manager got a good laugh out of the story.