To complicate things further, saying “no” isn’t always as overt as it
appears in this example; for many of the same reasons, women might say
”no” overtly when asked directly, as in the anecdote, but they might
also choose to delay acceptance, saying “I hope you’ll consider me for
future events,” or decide not to go after speaking engagements and
other opportunities that could be available to them. And these responses
lead to similar results - “manels” and other examples of women’s
underrepresentation in spaces of recognition and power stubbornly
persist despite the recruitment efforts of allies.
This paper stems from a desire to draw on and deepen our own
understanding of why women “say no” in situations like these, and to
use this wisdom to support the work of allies. The cartoon below is
grounded in conversations that we had as an authorship team, and those
we had as we discussed this anecdote with other women in academic
medicine. It depicts the ways in which saying ”no” is complicated -
“opportunities” can’t be evaluated outside of their context.