New course will give Jewish women skills to moderate panel discussions

The Jewish Independent and JOFA Australia are launching an online course to redress a gender imbalance in public debate.

Why are we doing this?

In a world where diverse perspectives should be celebrated, we have noticed a significant gender disparity and the under-representation of women in the role of community moderators, not to mention panellists. The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance in Australia (JOFA) began with a mission to promote the voices of women.

The Jewish Independent is an independent media company looking to broaden the communal conversation. We both share a passion for equality and inclusivity, recognising that, at times, the Jewish community can suffer from a lack of diverse voices, whether that be gender, age, ethnicity or socio-economic status. This realisation fuelled our determination to curate a program aimed at training women of all ages and backgrounds to become moderators, filling an important void.

The program focuses on equipping women with the necessary skills to navigate and moderate community spaces effectively. Professionally, we are both often searching for skilled female moderators, and we know that many other organisations struggle, too. Unfortunately, when struggling to find one, they may default to the troubling outcome of a ‘manel’ (an all-male panel). There is no shortage of female talent in our community. Rather, this scarcity often stems from women having a lack of confidence rather than capability.

So, we decided to do something about it and set up a practical training program to upskill potential moderators.

We designed two online workshops starting in March which will bring together a small group of women, no matter their location in Australia and no matter their age or level of moderating experience, to learn, grow, and gain the confidence to learn about how to moderate a panel.