28th November marks the 101st anniversary of Nancy Astor being the first woman to take a seat in Parliament and with Gender Pay Gap Day also having waved its unwelcome reminder on 20th November that the females of the species are still less well compensated for their work than males, 50 years on from the Equal Pay Act forbidding this, it seemed as good a time as any for this Philosopher-In-Residence to take a pregnant pause to ponder On Politics.

When I incorporated Make Me A Plan, I wanted the company to be founded on the kinds of values I hold personally. For the way the business represents itself, to reflect fair and equal treatment. Last but by no means least, to use column inches, our voice, our online presence, our influence, pester power, or any other kind of nudge, to contribute to conversations on the pressing issues of our time.

This time last year, I brought together a small group of ladies to form Make Me A Planel. We believe that a lack of gender balance is often inadvertent, but always unwelcome in a modern society. We are fed up of seeing events being organised with "manels" - all-male, or predominantly male panels or rosters of speakers - when we know there are tons of talented women being passed over in favour of the usual suspects.

Since events are invariably planned, we want to encourage businesses and groups to actively consider equal gender representation whenever they draw up seminars, events, conferences and replace the dreaded manels with the much preferred planels of speakers.

This Lady Astor Day, why don't you join the Make Me A Planel Planbassadors in posting the following on the social media platform of your choice and help us continue the legacy of deeds, as well as words, so that we can move towards a time when we learn about gender inequality in the history books, rather than the advertisements for current and future events?

"On the 101st anniversary of the first woman taking her seat in Parliament, I call on all organisations to actively consider gender equality when planning events.

#makemeaplanel #planelsnotmanels @makemeaplan"

Do add any other tags and hashtags as you see fit and don't forget to tell as many others as possible!

Next fortnight, I’ll be musing On Expansiveness. Please get in touch with any particular aspects of this topic you’d like me to write about.

In the meantime,

Happy Planning