What is your opinion of the Vegan Women Summit?
Seeking feedback about troubling allegations
This post is a simple request for feedback from my readers. First some context. In May, I questioned why the Vegan Women Summit (VWS) took sponsorship money from Miyoko’s Creamery, despite the very public dispute with its beloved founder, Miyoko Schinner.
On that post a few women chimed in to say how VWS is not really supporting women. Here is one example:
The Vegan's Women's Summit has been geared towards privileged white women from the start ... Lower Middle Class and Working Class vegans cannot afford to attend these Summits. There has been no provision built in to help these folks attend, hence..... inequity.
As a side note, while the recent Summit did offer “scholarships”, one awardee started a gofundme because she could *still* not afford to attend.
Then just a few days ago my colleague (and co-author from the book, The Good it Promises, the Harm it Does”, a critique of effective altruism) Christopher Sebastian posted to his Instagram about how VWS founder Jennifer Stojkovic was posting disinformation, this time about how actor Ryan Gosling was vegan when he’s not.
That post set off a torrent of negative comments about Stojkovic and VWS, some questioning why she doesn’t pay speakers and how that is especially exploitive of women of color. Stojkovic came onto the thread to defend not paying speakers, saying she does pay travel and accommodations. But that claim was then disputed by a couple of other commenters, including one speaker who was not compensated at all.
A few commenters opined that VWS appears to be more about Stojkovic and less about lifting up women, especially given that she came out of nowhere to start the event. I have never understood how VWS helps women at all.
So I want to hear from you, have you attended the event? Or was it too expensive for you? Know any other women with experiences to share? Please forward this message.
Feel free to comment, email me back or if you want to have a private conversation, happy to talk to you. We need to have this important discussion. Thank you!