Our voice has been heard; the organizers replied with the following letter to MDN. We will not comment on it...
Our letter generated discussions in various mail lists and social media. We thank everyone who raised their voices to support our cause. Here are selected posts we would like to share:Non-English coverage:
How did the story develop? The organizers removed the list of speakers from the website on Sunday, 02/16/2014. We also received an official apology from the IAQMS President, Prof. Josef Michl. On 02/25, the conference organizers issued an official apology and posted it on the conference website. If your browser does not show it, you can view it here. They also amended the program. The new list of speakers was finalized on 03/18; currently, it features 6 women, which exceeds historic average of 10% (10 women out of 102 lectures over the last 3 conferences). We closed the petition on 03/18/2014.
Looking into the future, we feel strongly that gender discrimination at scientific conferences and within professional societies must stop. It is unacceptable to invite women as an afterthought, after "real speakers" are invited. Given the remarkable achievements of female scientists, this is unjustified. We hope that by raising the awareness of this issue, we contribute to changing the climate in our field.
Again, we thank everyone for their support.