WE OPINION columnists, unlike our colleagues in the Life section, aren't the type to self-reference. Our carefully cultivated (some that would say pretentious) sense of professionalism prevents us from mentioning one another; rarely do we even write in first person. Yet if I may be permitted the indulgence:
Welcome, Sophia Brumby and Cari Hennessy.
It isn't that I don't appreciate the contributions of my current fellow opinion writers, nor am I anything but impressed by the potential of the other new columnists. Yet the arrival of Brumby and Hennessy goes a long way toward achieving gender parity on an editorial team of 2 (now 4) women and 14 men.
Which, comparatively, actually isn't much of an outrage. We're well outpacing the averages of national papers. So far in 2005, about 19.5 percent of op-ed pieces in The Los Angeles Times were by women, 16.9 percent in The New York Times and 10.4 percent at The Washington Post. Notable, as well, is that of all major syndicated editorial cartoonists, only a single one is female.
It's not as simple as diagnosing the problem as discrimination. Whatever the shortcomings in society in regards to gender, we've thankfully reached a day when sexist dismissal of women's opinion is more or less socially unacceptable.
Furthermore, in some cases, including that of The Cavalier Daily, it is women doing the deciding as members of the editorial teams that oversee mostly male columnists. Similarly, the dearth of female op-ed writers is not as easy to solve as prescribing affirmative action-type policies; in fact, such measures may do more harm than good. As Anne Applebaum, currently the only woman on The Washington Post's opinion page, wrote last week, "none of the female columnists I know want to think of themselves as beans to be counted, or as 'female journalists' with a special obligation to write about 'women's issues'." She warns against creating an environment where "every woman who gets her article accepted will have to wonder whether it was her knowledge of politics, her willingness to court controversy or just her gender that won the editor over."
So if the barrier of sexism has been removed, how can we close the gap without tokenizing female writers? The consensus certainly seems to be that more female voices are a worthy goal. Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt lamely offers that "there ought to be more women on op-ed pages in general. Over time, I intend to make that happen," but perhaps more telling than his tepid support is his acknowledgement that "80 to 90 percent of submissions, especially from such male-dominated bastions as Congress and academia, come from men."
In other words, no matter how much editors may try to balance their regular columnists, an overwhelming majority of the outside contributors that populate their pages will still be male.
Is it possible something greater than hiring policies and recruitment practices must change? Gail Collins, the first woman to oversee The New York Times editorial page, offers another possible explanation: the majority of the selection pool of opinion columnists is male. "There are probably fewer women, in the great cosmic scheme of things, who feel comfortable writing very straight opinion stuff, and they're less comfortable hearing something on the news and batting something out." Furthermore, while men covering men constitutes news, women covering women is "women's issues," boxing in columnists like Applebaum and creating the sense that the only way to be taken seriously is to take careful pains to avoid commenting on half the population.
Ultimately, of course, gender shouldn't matter at all. An opinion column should be judged for its clarity, persuasiveness and quality of research, not the sex of the author. But the absence of women on opinion pages at best allows stereotypes of female journalists as less capable and less articulate, or as only concerned with "women's issues" to continue, and at worst, subtly endorses them. Circular reasoning it may be, but it would seem as though the work of a lonely few is the best way to destroy those misconceptions and create opportunity for the fair representation of all.
So welcome aboard, Sophia and Cari. You've got your work cut out for you.
Katie Cristol's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at kcristol@cavalierdaily.com.
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