Earlier this year, the influential CES tech conference was slammed for having no female keynote speakers for the second year running. Kat Gordon, founder of female leadership organisation 3%, quipped that “CES must stand for ‘Chaps Exclusively on Stage.’”

The organisers, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), claimed it was because there was a “limited pool when it comes to women in these positions”.

But a number of tech campaigners beg to differ. From the UK list of over 500 female speakers produced by Charlotte Jee, editor of Techworld, to the Fintech Parity Pledge, a considerable amount is being done to challenge the prevalent all-male, pale and stale conference panels.

Charlotte Jee began drawing up her list when she became increasingly disillusioned with male-dominated tech industry events. “I got tired of hearing the usual excuses about there not being enough women, or that those asked couldn’t come,” she says. She reached out to her contacts on social media and soon began compiling a database of “brilliant women” already working in the tech industry. “There’s now more than 500 but it’ll be more than 600 soon. It’s growing all the time,” she says.

Jee has also launched her own startup, Jeneo, which helps event organisers with their diversity outreach and she hopes to start offering free speaker training to women in the tech industry later this year.

Cathy White, director of GeekGirl MeetUp UK, a community for women interested in tech, code, startups and design, shares Jee’s frustrations. White does not believe that conference organisers can’t find any high-profile female speakers. “I say it’s bullshit,” she comments. “If you are running a big event, you are in a great position to give women a platform and provide a visible role model for other women and decision-makers.”

Part of the problem, says White, is that the term “diversity” can be quite divisive and have negative connotations when it comes to speaker lineups.

Belinda Parmar, founder of The Empathy Business consultancy, says the terminology used when talking about inclusivity is critical. “The words ‘gender’ and ‘diversity’ can shut down a conversation, whereas the term ‘empathy’ opens it up,” she notes. “Empathy is something everyone wants to be part of, so instead of talking about diversity on speaker panels, we should be talking about empathy.”

Liz Lumley, fintech commentator and adviser, says it’s all too often a case of men going with the status quo. “We have fintech events with 200 speakers and just four of them are women. That is a problem, and it has nothing to do with there being more men in the industry. Women are being actively ignored and excluded.”

Conference organisers are not experts in the industry they work in, says Lumley, and generally look at who has spoken at other events and who features on influencer lists (mostly men). “If you go with the norm, you will get events with nine guys sitting around talking about blockchain – 40 minutes of my life I will never get back,” she says.

Sharon O’Dea, creator of the FinTech Parity Pledge, where conference organisers pledge to only run events with mixed-gender panels, says: “We’ve had criticism from people saying speaker panels are trivial and that we should be concentrating on getting women in the boardroom. But I’d argue that you can’t decouple the two. Being visible at events helps women to gain profile, and to be taken seriously. That helps them to get that next promotion or to gain investment in their business.”

That visibility and platform is fundamental to getting women into the boardroom, Lumley argues. “And it also shows the next generation of women that fintech is an industry for people like them.”

There is no denying the fact that the tech industry as a whole is male-dominated, however. Analysis by the Entelo blog said that only 18% of tech jobs in the US were held by women, and the more senior the position, the less likely it is to be held by a woman.

Part of the problem, says Carrie Osman, CEO of Cruxy & Co, a strategic consultancy working in the tech sector, is the organisers’ approach “If you receive an email saying something along the lines of ‘We’ve spoken to several people already but none of them are available so we wondered if you could speak at our event’, it doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence.”

The other issue is the often cited “imposter syndrome” which is generally more prevalent in women and could prevent them from putting themselves forward as a speaker. One way White has helped overcome this at GeekGirl is by calling them “experts”. “So rather than being a woman in a room full of men,” she says, “you are an expert talking about something you know about.” White also hopes to introduce a reverse-mentoring programme where young women mentor CEOs and business leaders.

The irony is, says Jee, that the tech sector is actually a fantastic industry to work in if you’re female. “The hours and working practices tend to be fairly flexible and, as you are part of something that’s at the forefront of innovation, there’s huge scope for you to shape your own career.”