Danielle McLaughlin

Why Gen-X women can’t sleep, even though we have it all...

One of my news producers drew something concerning to my attention this week. There weren’t any letters to the editor from women on our opinion page.

It prompted him to seek out last week’s letters page and he found the same thing – we had letters from Bill, John and Tom among others. But no women.

We value all our letterwriters, particularly our regulars. But it was a concern we might be inadvertently ignoring women. So we checked back through the mail box to make sure that wasn’t the case. Sadly it wasn’t. Women just don’t write letters to the editor with the same frequency as men. Why?

Part of the answer might lie in one email I received from a female reader last week. She had a good point to make but when I asked if we could reprint it on our letters page she declined, saying she would be bullied on social media.

She may be right. The phenomenon of women being targeted on social media is well known. But women’s voices are important in calling out those in power – including us in the media. Last week, for instance, we ran a column criticising tennis great Serena Williams for taking her baby on tour. My personal view is that Williams should be celebrated for doing so, not torn down – especially given her remarkable achievements.

I defend the right of our columnists to have a different view; that’s why their articles are labelled opinion, after all. But I wonder how many women picked up the paper then tossed it down in disgust. Or whether they see stories like that and feel like they don’t have anything in common with us.

I hope that’s not the case. We have, after all, some top female writers in our stable – regular columnists Alison Mau and Andrea Vance are two of New Zealand’s hardest-hitting journalists. Danielle McLaughlin is a regular contributor on US politics, though her column this week is more personal, tackling the issue of why Gen X women can’t sleep.

But the lack of women who feel comfortable joining the conversation on our letters page tells me we need to do more.

So I have a plea for our women readers. Get bolshie, call us out.

Tell us what you really think.