RSGB: Gender-Washing

A Mastodon bot account that gathers information about amateur radio published an interesting link to a RSGB page this morning.

I don't get much information about the RSGB these days, as I've long ceased being a member; this rather gives the lie to the constant claims made by the RSGB that they are 'out there', in the media, advocating for the hobby. 

Anyhow, the link proved to be to a New Scientist-style, Q&A interview with an accomplished female engineer. This is good to see, because I've been pointing out for years how the RSGB has a truly monumental problem with gender balance in its representation of the hobby. Here's objective, numerical evidence for that claim. And here's more.

I later discovered, thanks to a social media message, that this was all in response to a call put out by the RSGB; the person who sent me the link commented on its wording:

"I actually thought their call for women to feature in the article was quite patronising so I decided NOT to answer. What I didn't like is a recurring theme. They assume that if you are a woman you won't be interested in the hobby just for fun. It must have been because it helps your career or something."

The RSGB's call.

 

In any case, as a result of all this, I had hoped that the RSGB board might now include the person featuring in the article (where neither the RSGB nor the hobby seems to have played any role in getting her into her career), or at least a shift towards a more gender-balanced composition. 

How did that exercise in a simple internet search (10am, 23/06/2025) go? Well, er... 

That's right, the 100% male (and white and, with one exception, pretty old) upper-echelon of the RSGB. The message isn't getting through to the right people...