University pulls Brexit debate because there were no women on the panel

The University of York has postponed a talk on Brexit because there were no women speakers on the eight-person panel.

The ‘Brexit and History’ conference was described by the university as intending to ‘bring together historians and social scientists to discuss the origins and potential impact of Brexit’.

A university spokesperson said that the event had been put on hold until a ‘more balanced programme’ could be secured.

Professor Lawrence Black, head of the Department of History, said in a statement: “It has come to my attention that a conference organised to explore issues related to Brexit and History has an all-male speaker list.

“The University – and the Department of History – are utterly committed to developing, maintaining and supporting a culture of equality and diversity.

“The current gender balance reflected in this conference programme does not reflect those values. We have got this wrong and I apologise for that.

“For this reason I have asked the organisers to postpone the conference in order to create a more balanced programme.

“The Department’s Equality and Diversity Committee will work further with our institutional Equality and Diversity Committee to ensure that all of our future events reflect the widest possible diversity and to ensure that this does not happen again.”

In 2015 a row broke out after York University cancelled an event for International Men’s Day.

The event, intended to highlight issues such as male suicide rates and lower life expectancies for men, was pulled after staff and alumni wrote an open letter objecting to it.