A minimal, mechanically checkable proxy for representation: two named women who talk to each other about something other than a man.
Bechdel published it in 1985 as a joke in a comic strip, crediting Liz Wallace. Its subsequent use as a target is a live case of Goodhart's law: a film can pass in thirty seconds and still be what the test was pointing at.
In practice
- A diversity target counted as "number of women in the room" is met by inviting note-takers.
- A hospital's "patients seen within four hours" target is met by reclassifying the waiting area.
- Standing
- Designed as a joke and explicitly a floor, not a standard; a live illustration of Goodhart's law when used as a target.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Communication & Media
- Essay
- Rules for speaking, writing and disagreeing