Macleans.ca - Columnists
Ever since the Kim Campbell mauling, I've viewed the media's spoutings about gender equality with a great deal of skepticism. I've written before about the change for the worse over at Maclean's, and today my attention was drawn to Maclean's latest marketing push, which of course got me to look at their website and then to notice all the male names and then to check out the columnists page where I saw they have a grand total of one female columnist listed. Under the previous editor, there were at least three, if I recall correctly. It rather mirrors the downward slide in female MPs since the Mulroney era when he made great strides with putting women in powerful cabinet positions, and not just in the token Health or Women's Issues portfolios. (BTW not a Mulroney fan but put credit where credit is due.)
Meanwhile, the Toronto Star has 11 out of 42 serious News columnists; two, maybe three, out of 12 in Business; I think one out of 15 in Sports; none in Science's two; Living of course is chock-a-block with women; and seven out of 25 in Entertainment (I've skipped the other sections).
Time Canada is interesting. It doesn't list the publisher or editor or contributing editors anywhere in its magazine, not that I could find anyway. Out of about seven columnists, only one is female (in the fluff category). Now why would Maclean's want to emulate Time?
So there you go, a quick and dirty survey keeps my skepticism intact.
Ever since the Kim Campbell mauling, I've viewed the media's spoutings about gender equality with a great deal of skepticism. I've written before about the change for the worse over at Maclean's, and today my attention was drawn to Maclean's latest marketing push, which of course got me to look at their website and then to notice all the male names and then to check out the columnists page where I saw they have a grand total of one female columnist listed. Under the previous editor, there were at least three, if I recall correctly. It rather mirrors the downward slide in female MPs since the Mulroney era when he made great strides with putting women in powerful cabinet positions, and not just in the token Health or Women's Issues portfolios. (BTW not a Mulroney fan but put credit where credit is due.)
Meanwhile, the Toronto Star has 11 out of 42 serious News columnists; two, maybe three, out of 12 in Business; I think one out of 15 in Sports; none in Science's two; Living of course is chock-a-block with women; and seven out of 25 in Entertainment (I've skipped the other sections).
Time Canada is interesting. It doesn't list the publisher or editor or contributing editors anywhere in its magazine, not that I could find anyway. Out of about seven columnists, only one is female (in the fluff category). Now why would Maclean's want to emulate Time?
So there you go, a quick and dirty survey keeps my skepticism intact.
Comments
Also, I wasn't counting bloggers, only those who according to Maclean's website, appear in print regularly.
Thanks for the reminder. And a very Merry Holiday-that-shall-not-be-named to you too! :D