Why are so few women on the letters page?
The question raised this week by writer Caroline Kitchener in the Atlantic, is one I have long wondered about: Why do so few women write letters to the editor? Why indeed? Conventions of journalistic writing suggest that if a writer poses a question in a piece, she should answer that question for the reader.
I wish I had a clear answer to this question for you. Maybe you have an answer for me. If so, please send me an email with your views. For reasons that I hope will become apparent, this is a call out to women only please.
I ask because, seemingly, there are no clear answers but rather, depressing theories that speak to both facts and opinions about gender and the confidence to speak one’s mind in a public forum.
First fact: It is true that women do submit fewer letters to the editor than men, and consequently news organizations publish fewer voices of women. My rough count of the Star’s letters page from May 1 to 10 indicates that of 60 letters published in the newspaper, 36 came from men and 14 from women. Another 10 came from individuals whose gender could not be identified by their initials or name.
In writing on this issue, the Atlantic journalist approached me earlier this month seeking data on how many women versus how many men submit letters to the Star.
I told her that while the Star does not compile data on the gender of those who submit letters to the editor for publication consideration, I believe that significantly more men opt to offer their views on public affairs than do women.
Having edited the letters page part-time at the Globe and Mail more than a decade ago, I have first-hand experience of striving to create gender-balanced letters pages and discovering a dearth of women’s voices in the submissions’ emails.
Kitchener’s reporting attributed this phenomenon in large part to what has been called “the confidence gap.”
“Women are less likely to think that they’re, one, skilled enough to write something worthwhile, and, two, able to offer insight other people should care about,” Kitchener wrote in the Atlantic piece, citing the words of Joyce Ehrlinger, assistant professor of psychology at Washington State University.
Most startling: Ehrlinger told Kitchener that there are hardly any subjects that women approach with more confidence than men, except — are you ready for this — cooking.
Kitchener also sought out University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, sociology professor Andrew Perrin. Perrin analyzed the characteristics of those who write letters to the editor. His 2016 paper concluded that “Letters to the editor mostly display inequalities similar to other forms of political participation.
“Writers are more likely to be white, older, more politically active and less likely to be politically moderate than the local population.”
With readership for print publications falling, one might attribute this to a view that the printed letters page is a somewhat outmoded form of speaking one’s mind these days. But research indicates the same lack of women’s voices in online comments, too — hardly surprising, given the extent of online harassment for many women who speak out. Perrin’s research indicates women are most likely to speak out on Facebook within their own community of friends.
For further insight, I sought out Shari Graydon, founder of Informed Opinions, a national organization committed to amplifying the voices of women in media. The organization also trains women to write op-ed articles based on their expertise and holds media to account for the diversity of voices as sources in op-ed articles. (Full disclosure: I serve on the advisory board of this organization).
“I don’t believe women’s failure to write letters reflects a lack of confidence so much as the absence of certainty that their views are sufficiently necessary to the conversation to warrant the investment of their time, which is generally a scarce resource,” Graydon said.
Weighing the time necessary to write a letter to the editor (or an op-ed) would seem to be a concern for many women. Certainly that was a view expressed by some women on Twitter who responded when I posted a link to Kitchener’s Atlantic article.
“Women are too busy working to write letters, said one woman. Added another: “Cause we’re all too busy doing every damn thing.”
So, why don’t more women write letters to the editor? You tell me.