Where are the women? Maybe Wente has a point!

Last week, Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente upset online commentators with her column that asked why most bloggers are men. One of Canada's top political bloggers, David Eaves, wrote a great piece that poked holes in many of her arguments.

I had a slightly different take on Wente's column, which I read less as a diatribe on the blogosphere (although there was no doubt some of that it) and more as plea for more women's voices in public affairs commentary online.

While she didn't say this in the original column, I read bits of her online discussion, where she clarified she'd written it from the point of view of current affairs. Wente wrote, " I was referring in my column to the type of blogging that refers to news and current events. This is largely -- though by no means exclusively -- a male world, just as radio phone-in talk shows and televsion panels of people analyzing and opining on the days' events."

As a woman deeply interested in matters of public policy and current events, I agree with her.

Let's take Ottawa as an example. In the blogosphere, save for Kady O'Malley at CBC and Susan Delacourt at The Toronto Star, I struggle to think of many more female commentators of any scale in Canada.

Scroll down here, to "Blog Central," at Canada's national newsmagazine, for just one example of what I mean. To be clear, these are all excellent writers who I rely on to help shape my own views on things... I don't wish any of them to stop writing. I only wish Maclean's would add a female or two to its mix.

Of the top 10 political blogs in Canada, only one (#10) is authored by a woman.

On The Mark, a online opinion journal, of the first 100 contributors in the "politics" category, less than a quarter are female.

If we take Eaves' point about columns being a type of blog, in the Globe and Mail, Wente is the only woman with a regular gig commenting on public affairs.

I know there are a lot women blogging and tweeting out there, there's just not a lot of them doing so about current affairs or politics, at least not in a high profile way in Canada. There are also lots of women reporters on the Hill (most of whom tweet, and whose reporting I follow), just not a lot with profile in the commenting scene, either online or off.

The more interesting question to me is why, and if anyone else cares about this, what to do about it. Wente "blames" it on men's propensity to step up and speak out. Maybe we women need to do a bit more of that.

I'll include myself as a guilty party - as a pretty regular blogger (mostly over here), I think about my blogging more as a curating and less as opining. Maybe that should change.

Or maybe editors have to do more to hire/encourage women in this way, if Wente's right that they're not naturally predisposed to opine.

Or maybe readers have to demand more of it, and encourage those who are trying.

Or maybe it's just Canada.

I don't know. But I think Wente has a point. Thoughts?

P.S. Thanks to the female-penned The Pundit's Guide and to @tideswaters for reminding me of their great work. And who can forget @withoutayard's awesome blog? If other female policy-wonks want to send me links to their blogs, I'll compile a list and share it online.

New sources of public ideas?

Privately, I've often whined that I wished universities would do more to engage in public debate on the important issues we face. Filled with lots of smart people and endowed with a significant public mandate (supported by public monies), I'd love to see more active debate and discussion initiated and sustained by our universities and the people within them.

A blanket statement, I know, and not entirely fair. There are many academics who work hard to disseminate their ideas to wider audiences (here's my recent favourite, on healthcare) and many schools provide lists of their professors willing to talk to the media on any range of subjects. Furthermore, it's a tough thing to change, as academics' most important incentives do not reward them for writing op-eds or being talking heads, and most news outlets don't devote much air-time to thorough discussion or opinion anyway (here and here being a couple of notable exceptions).

Still, I'm encouraged by the potential new media creates for greater dissemination of ideas from our universities. I've started a Twitter list of releases from as many of our Canadian university feeds as I can find. You can follow it here, and if you know of others that should be added, let me know.

Watch it here!

In the "media is dead, long live the media" discussions I'm always fascinated by the proliferation of new sites that appeal to the policy nerd in all of us (or maybe just me). We've been doing some research into the US and Canadian examples, and although none have yet cracked the sustainable business model challenge, it's encouraging to see so many efforts to bring news and opinion forward.

The latest to cross my radar in Canada is PublicVoice.tv, a video forum for ideas on public issues and challenges. It's a bit like a video version of The Mark. They were kind (or foolish) enough to include me in their first taping, which you can watch here.e-another-new-online-public.aspx

New Cdn media product emerges: The Mark

One of my favourite elements of my job is the opportunity to meet Canadians doing innovative things to make our country a more vibrant and exciting place.  A bunch of months ago I met two guys working to get an online news and opinion forum off the ground.  Their project is called The Mark, and today, it launched in beta. 

Their premise is that there are thousands of thoughtful Canadians, living here and abroad, with interesting experiences and ideas who lack a forum in which to publish their ideas.  The Mark is hoping to do something about that, and become a "national movement to record Canadian ideas and propel the people behind them."

I'm having fun scrolling through the articles, many by people I don't know.  I loved this one about the social media fatigue by a brilliant-sounding Canadian studying in San Francisco what sounds like a topic near and dear to my heart.  I enjoyed learning a bit more about Obama's time in law school and I'm looking forward to following the indomitable Tzeporah Berman's posts on the environment.  I also did my bit, and wrote about the game of mutual destruction underway between media and parliaments I've observed lately and how we're working to help.

The upside?  It's a new, fresh media product emerging from the rubble of the old.  They keen to hear from a wide range of people interested in contributing to their ideas and are willing to work with you to make that happen.  In fact, they've already amassed an impressive and diverse list of contributors, few of whom I've ever seen in the mainstream media.    

The downside?  Well, you won't get paid which, given the challenges facing our dear old media industry, makes me further worry about how we sustain good public affairs journalism (more on that in future posts!).  However, for those out there with a love of ideas (or who, like me, are wannabe journalists at heart), we can do worse than taking the time to participate by checking out the site regularly or if the inspiration strikes, consider contributing.

I'm curious what you think of this new site, and of course, I always welcome feedback on my own article.