Not tongue-tied but…

Personally, I have never felt as though my gender helped or hindered my progression through this career. Being a woman was irrelevant, my hard work and my commitment to doing a good job were the primary factors in every step forward I made.

My drive to succeed was innate and I believe I was rewarded for my efforts accordingly. I’m well aware this is not everyone’s experience.

When I was appointed editor of The Sydney Morning Herald in 2017 though, I suddenly realised being a woman made me different. There were often meetings where I was the only woman and I found myself regularly being spoken over in male dominated meetings.

I wondered why all of a sudden this was happening. Those who know me wouldn’t say I was shy or tongue-tied, but I was regularly struck by how quickly I could become invisible. This genuinely surprised me - wasn’t being appointed into a role like this supposed to have exactly the opposite effect? 

 My immediate superiors, then and now, have never displayed such attitudes, and I have always been incredibly well supported. I would also say that as I have grown into the role, those experiences have diminished almost entirely.

I am the third female editor in the Herald’s 190 years of publishing. The first, Amanda Wilson, was appointed just ten years ago; Judith Whelan followed a few years later - so the Herald had no female editors for 180 years, but three in the most recent decade. This is great progress - no other metropolitan masthead has that record. 

Consciousness for the front page

The practical effect at the Herald today is consciousness - when the front page has no female bylines or photos on it, we do something about it. We balk when the only opinion pieces submitted on a given day are from men, and quickly commission a woman to balance the view.

There’s a newsroom-wide recognition that a woman’s perspective is not only important but absolutely vital. Challenging unconscious bias in gender diversity (not to mention race and culture) needs to be an industry-wide KPI. 

About 50 percent of the Herald’s key leadership roles are occupied by women. Amid the news of recent weeks, this level of representation in the newsroom has undoubtedly been beneficial. \

Thanks to Brittany Higgins, Grace Tame, Chantel Contos and a now-deceased Adelaide lawyer, issues relating to sexual violence against women, harassment and female empowerment are on the public stage like never before.

Their voices have been strong, clear and most importantly - heard. While always reaffirming that two of the accused perpetrators must remain innocent until a court of law decides otherwise, it has been gratifying that these women have had space to tell their stories, and they’ve been resoundingly respected.

Current news cycle bewildering

The current news cycle feels to varying degrees challenging, bewildering and empowering. The women’s recounted experiences are deeply distressing. In covering them, the judgement of editors has been tested, most often by ourselves.  

But on International Women’s Day, the nation seems ready to embrace this period of struggle so that on the other side, the landscape is better. The thousands of stories of sexual assaults emerging from school communities (as revealed by Contos’ petition) indicate a watershed moment, hopefully marking the last time a generation suffers in this way.

New mission

At the Herald, we have chosen International Women’s Day to set a goal for equal representation of voices in our opinion section. Opinion Editor Julie Lewis says in our submissions inbox, women are too often missing in action not just on matters like sexual assault but on every issue.

We don’t know all the reasons why, but we’ve been consciously trying to change that. To some extent we are hostage to the under-representation of women in positions of power, but we are committed to encouraging, cajoling and promoting more women into our debates. As the last few weeks have shown, the cost of silence is too high.