(This came up on a FB thread I happened to lay my eyes on; it does not involve anyone I actually know, so it feels a bit like I’m intruding into other people’s business, but this seems important as a topic. Apologies if I am being intrusive!).
What should you do when you are putting together an edited volume on a given topic, you make a serious effort to have a fair representation of female contributors, and yet you end up with a very unbalanced lineup because the potential female authors you approached all declined the invitation? Do you go ahead as is? Do you put the project off and work further on involving female contributors? (Which potentially can only be achieved if you change a bit the focus of the volume as originally conceived.) Do you call the whole thing off?
There seem to be downsides to all of these options. So this appears to be a real dilemma, and I’d be curious to hear people’s thoughts on this. I’d be particularly curious to hear experiences of volume editors who somehow managed to redress the problem after a difficult start, as this may be useful advice for those editing volumes at the moment.
(On a personal note, I feel myself that I’ve been failing volume editors in general, as lately I’ve had to decline quite a few invitations to contribute to volumes myself. I need to focus on the commitments I already have, in particular my current research project on deduction, but thereby I am certainly not contributing to the general goal of gender balance in edited volumes…)
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