Friday, February 18, 2011

My op-ed piece on discrimination...

So... a couple of weeks ago, I went to a workshop organized by the University Women's Caucus called "Informed Opinions". It was run by Shari Graydon, who runs a project to educate women on how to bridge the gender gap in public commentary. In brief, it was a workshop for women on how to write op-ed pieces.

The first thing I learned is that "op-ed" means "opposite the editorial page". Can't believe I didn't know that....I somehow thought it meant something like "opinion edition" or some such thing. We were told that, amongst newspaper readers who are decision makers, it is not the front page, but the op-ed page that is the most important.

We were also told that women are vastly under-represented on the op-ed page. The more interesting question was "why?". It turns out that editors are not simply choosing male voices over female voices. It turns out that very few women submit op-ed pieces to newspapers (only 1 for every 5 male submissions they receive). She reminded us that you don't have to be an expert in order to speak. You just have to have 'an informed opinion' to contribute!

We got the lecture from her about the need to have a greater diversity of informed opinions in the media. She challeneged us to write and submit pieces more frequently. At one moment, it felt like one of those 'it is your responsibility!' lectures (you know, the "Get moving Soldier!" line.... hahaha)

So I did it A newspaper story in the Times Colonist really got my goat. And so I wrote a response. It showed up in the paper this morning!

Shari blogged about my process of writing it... Follow the links if you want to read her blog piece, or my op-ed.

4 comments:

  1. "Congratulations, Aunt Rebecca", says David. I was in the Salmon Arm observer once because I was wearing a great pirate costume at a Health Fair. My mom made it to the paper for two things, (a) dressing up as Mother Goose for the Literacy Fair and (b) saying what SHE would do if she were the one who had not yet collected the $75,000 winning lottery ticket from Salmon Arm.

    What would you have done with the lottery money if it had been YOUR ticket?

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  3. Rebecca - your op-ed peice was so moving. It made me think in a new way about the system we have inhereted and made me believe change is possible. I believe and NEED to believe our RCMP force / police force are all great officers. I wept when I read the list of those who died at the hands of the police. I wept thinking about the female officer who is once again dismissed by having her case once again spoken about as being not with merit. I felt the "call to write" and let others know through my writing that I may have an opinion not currently expressed in the paper. I hope to put myself to quick action as you did. I will keep you posted.

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  4. I am going to answer Bonnie's question as to what I would do if I could collect the $75,000 lottery ticket money that seems to have not been collected in Salmon Arm.

    I would spend it all in one place -- paying off my mortgage.

    I don't think that answer would make it to the newspaper.

    What did you say, Bonnie?

    Arta

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