📣🚨 Action Alert | TED's Top Recommendation Gets Gender Balance All Wrong

Take a look at the email GenderAvenger Ruth Ann Harnisch received from TED with the subject line “Ruth Ann, your top recommendation is…”

screenshot of an email from TED to Ruth Ann Harnisch
screenshot of an email from TED to Ruth Ann Harnisch

The recommendations for Ruth Ann, founder of The Harnisch Foundation and member of the TED community since 2006, were talks by 6 men and only one woman. Even worse, the images accompanying the suggestions only showed men! Given Ruth Ann’s work to “support the work of effective leaders and creative communities working to advance equality and inclusivity, with a focus on women and girls,” the TED algorithm could not have gotten it more wrong, and she let them know:

Really? REALLY?

Your recommendations for ME are all photos of MEN? Your algorithm has had well over a decade to know this is offensive to me & should be rendered impossible by your programming for ANY recipient bcz representation is important for everyone.

How does the gender balance look in the newsletters you receive? The GA Tally app can help you show if they’re perpetuating an overwhelm of men’s voices and help you speak out about it.

 

Tell the TED that this is unacceptable:

 

📣🚨 When @TEDTalks recommended talks by 6 men and only 1 woman to @ruthannharnisch, she let them know their algorithm was broken and offensive. How do the newsletters you receive fare? #GenderAvenger https://www.genderavenger.com/blog/action-alert-ted-top-recommendation-gets-gender-balance-all-wrong