Bringing knowledgeable women into the conversation

 

You’d think this would make me happy.

 

Instead, I’m furious.

 

I’d thought the story I was relating was outdated and irrelevant. But it turns out my little historical anecdote is surprisingly contemporary. Apparently, 15 years after I discovered first-hand how hard it was to recruit expert women to agree to be listed in a resource guide for reporters seeking to expand their roster of reliable sources beyond the usual (mostly male) suspects, women are still declining interviews in droves.

 

As the president of the non-profit organization Media Action in the 1990s, I’d personally invited dozens of female scholars, business executives and NGO leaders to participate in a project that would help correct the gender imbalance among newsmakers and commentators in Canadian newspapers. Sadly, dozens of those women responded by saying, ‘Well, I’m flattered to be asked, but I’m really not the best person.’ The nodding CBC producers confirmed that, even in 2010, this response is a familiar one.

 

That’s a problem: The unfortunate tendency of many women experts to defer to others means that even though women constitute more than half of the workforce and university graduates, and are making significant gains in many previously male-dominated professions, our perspectives are still often missing in action from the public discourse.

 

Recent Canadian research documents that on the op-ed pages of major market daily newspapers and on prominent broadcast programs dealing with public affairs, female pundits and pontificators are outnumbered by their male counterparts by about five to one.

 

This is bad news for women and men. As a growing body of research makes clear, incorporating a diversity of perspectives into decision-making results in better decisions. Corporations and countries that make the best use of women’s contributions are more competitive and enjoy a higher quality of life.

 

Simply put, Canada can’t afford for knowledgeable women to confine their expert analysis to scholarly journals and conferences. Given the unprecedented economic, environmental, and social challenges we face, we need to be drawing on the expertise of the best and the brightest, many of whom are women. It’s never made sense to access the intelligence and ideas of only half the population; it makes even less sense now.

 

Although academic publications and conferences remain important vehicles for the dissemination of new research, public discourse also plays a critical role. The voices that inform public debate through prominent news media have an enormous impact on shaping public opinion and influencing government policies and priorities on everything from climate change and health care to technology and education.

 

Informed Opinions – a project of Media Action – is working to enhance the diversity and quality of that discourse by supporting more women in sharing their knowledge and insights. We’re partnering with universities across Canada to encourage female scholars from all disciplines to speak up more often, and to recognize the benefits that result when they offer their expertise beyond the halls of academe.

 

Women who take our workshops walk out at the end of the day better equipped to translate their scholarly knowledge into accessible analysis that enhances public understanding of the issues they know more about than most others.

 

They’re given practical tips in writing and submitting op-eds, and they’re discouraged from believing that ‘I’m not the best person?’ is an acceptable response to most interview requests.

 

CBC producers – as eager as their colleagues at other news organizations to make use of women’s insights – await.

 

Shari Graydon, an award-winning author and the catalyst of Informed Opinions, leads Informed Opinions, a project that supports experts in making their ideas and knowledge more accessible to print, broadcast and online information media. Informed Opinions’ goals are to bridge the gender gap in public commentary and enhance the quality of public discourse by expanding the diversity of perspectives that inform Canada’s policies and priorities.

Learn more

Shari Graydon will hold a public lecture on the under-representation of women’s perspectives in the media 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13 in Western’s London Hall. She is also hosting a one-day workshop on Saturday, Jan. 15 for 25 of Western’s female faculty members to provide them with the tools to conduct media interviews and write opinion pieces. The lecture and workshop are sponsored by the Department of Women’s Studies & Feminist Research, the Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children, the Department of Communications & Public Affairs, and the Office of the Provost.