BRUSSELS — They just wanted it to be interesting. In 2014, a group of women — journalists, lobbyists, and think-tankers — were having dinner in Brussels, bemoaning the poor quality of panel discussions they attended through their work on European Union energy policy.
Too often it was the same faces, usually male, often saying the same thing to a largely male audience.
“There was a lot of wine being drunk and a lot of complaining, and we just decided to do something,” said Marika Andersen, who was then working for a nongovernmental organization.