The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Where’s Female Expertise?

After Sarah Vowell made a wonderful and hilarious appearance on the Daily Show last week, those of us here at the OpEd Project got to wondering how many women have joined her ranks at the seat of honor across from Jon Stewart. A brief survey of the past 200 guests on the show (as displayed on their website) shows that just 42 interviewees were female.

Perhaps more interesting is a comparison in the type of expertise between male and female guests:

Politicians: 35 male, 5 female

Actors: 33 male, 16 female

Authors: 31 male, 6 female

Journalists: 15 male, 7 female

Where the largest category of male guests was that of politics, by far the largest category of female guests was that of actors. While almost half of the journalists interviewed were female, only 16% of all authors interviewed were women.

Stewart also interviewed 2 male military experts, 7 musicians, 6 movie directors, and 2 scientists, but no women from any of those categories.

If you want to help expand the range of female experts on one of the most popular TV shows, REGISTER for the new OpEdProject studio course, and get your voice out there!

Stay tuned for statistics on the Colbert Report!

College Fraternities: Breeding grounds for success, but also gender inequality

The recent and highly publicized Title IX complaint at Yale has raised numerous questions and concerns about continuing gender inequality and discrimination across America’s institutions of higher education. On March 15th, 16 Yale students filed a complaint against the university for violating Title IX—alleging that Yale had failed to curb a “hostile sexual environment” for women on campus. The incidents of such hostility include: a 2007 petition by women in the medical school charging sexual harassment; a lewd email ranking dozens of freshmen by “how many beers it would take to have sex with them”; and, most widely known, a fraternity pledge prank that involved dozens of men gathered on Yale’s Old Campus, shouting that women were “f–king sluts!,” followed by “No means yes! Yes means anal!”

Samantha Wishman, a recent graduate of Penn published a column in the Daily Beast arguing that the problem with gender inequality on college campuses originates in the Greek system. Wishman builds her argument from her personal experience as vice president of the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta at Penn, where she continually faced a much stricter set of rules than her male counterparts. Wishman argues that although sororities were originally founded in order to give women a foothold on campuses that had once been all-male bastions they have since “come to infantilize the women they once sought to empower.”

The culture of male dominance fostered in Greek life has repercussions far beyond college culture. For although a minority of students take part in Fraternities, that minority remains enormously influential in wielding influence in the “real world”. According to Wishman, “fraternities have produced 120 current Forbes 500 CEOs, 48 percent of all presidents, and similar numbers of senators, congressmen, and Supreme Court justices.” If men in such positions of leadership are submerged in a culture in which women are viewed as weaker and less capable than men during their most formative years of development, transforming the Greek system would address a root cause of continuing gender discrimination in the workplace.

Caitlin Flanagan, the author of “To Hell With All That: loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife,” published a column in the Wall St. Journal arguing that fraternities present a serious hindrance to young women’s education. Like Wishman, Flanagan speaks from her personal experience as an undergrad at University of Virginia, where the dominating Greek culture nearly cost her a college education. Flanagan describes the Greek system as “dedicated to quelling young men’s anxiety about submitting themselves to four years of sissy-pants book learning by providing them with a variety of he-man activities: drinking, drugging, ESPN watching and the sexual mistreatment of women.”

This system, argues Flanagan, creates an environment that robs women equal opportunity to education. To back up her claim, Flanag provides some startling numbers:

Currently, as many as one out of five women are sexually assaulted before graduation. A 2007 National Institute of Justice study found that about one in five women are victims of sexual assault in college; almost all of those incidents go unreported. It also noted that fraternity men—who tend to drink more heavily and frequently than nonmembers—are more likely to perpetrate sexual assault than nonfraternity men, according to previous studies. Over a quarter of sexual-assault victims who were incapacitated reported that the assailant was a fraternity member.

These statistics alone are appalling and disheartening. But while it can be tempting to isolate the culture of male dominance as fostered in Greek culture to the educational institutions that harbor them, the arguments presented by Wishman and Flanagan  make it clear that there are much broader implications across all sectors of society. Immediate, and effective attention must be paid. If you have a story, opinion, or idea of how to transform the Greek system, please use this opportunity to have it heard!

The OpEd Project Meets JT Thompson

John (JT) Thompson had an incredibly moving op-ed in the NYT Sunday before last (which The OpEd Project helped him with) about his 18-year ordeal in prison (14 years on death row), for a murder he did not commit -- because the Louisiana prosecutor's office intentionally withheld exculpatory evidence. Here's a link to his NYT op-ed: http://nyti.ms/i39tEg. In this photo: Katie, JT and former VP of Echoing Green Heather McGrew, at an informal gathering for JT at Echoing Green this week.

The OpEd Project DC Alums Head to the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards

Last Tuesday, April 12th, I was thrilled to attend the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards gala with OEP DC Alum, Kara van Stralen. Special thanks to OEP alum Nina Blackwell of Yahoo!, who participated in our Silicon Valley Thought Leadership Greenhouse, for the tickets to such a prestigious event.

It started off with an incredibly inspiring awards ceremony featuring distinguished presenters like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, actress Sally Field, and fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg celebrating the work of global women leaders from Cameroon to Afghanistan. Afterwards, we attended a dinner reception where we hob-knobbed with Wolf Blitzer (Kara recently worked at CNN), OEP DC alum Angie Peltzer, and one of the awardees, Sunitha Krishnan of India. All in all, Kara and I both felt like VIPs and were excited to represent The OpEd Project at such a high-profile event. We’re marking our calendars for next year!

–Alyssa Best, East Coast Program Manager

The OEP Presents A New York Day: The April 16th Public Seminar

This past Saturday, April 16^th, I spent my day as a participant in the program I’ve assisted in running behind the scenes for nearly three months now. Despite my initial hesitation, I found my time at the Op-Ed Project’s New York Seminar to be engaging, enlightening and overall a phenomenal use of a rainy day.

Things opened with a casual breakfast of bagels and light conversation before moving on a standard parade of introductions and greetings and progressing, finally, to an opening exercise that remains one of the most insightful experiences in recent memory. While I don’t want to spoil the fun for anyone who hasn’t (but surely should) had the chance to participate in one of these seminars yet, those who have will certainly catch my drift when I say that sometimes knowing yourself can be more difficult than you might suppose.

After the lunch break the day resumed with a more formal guide to approaching the art of the op-ed. As the hours ticked by and the exercises stacked up, I found myself staring deeper into a beast that I thought I had conquered quite some ago. As the social media intern here at the OEP, I (wonderfully) get to read each and every successful publication by former participants of the program: I carefully scan each—always from a growing variety of publications—and, in 140 characters or less, try my best to crystallize the point, the purpose behind the author’s countless hours of work. This role, combined with a pre-existing healthy appetite for op-ed reading, had lead me to believe, before Saturday, not only that I understood the abstract concept of an op-ed piece, but also that I could, with ease, guide someone to writing their own. Not true; simply, not true.

That afternoon the magnificent and magnetic Katherine Lanpher—as well as the equally qualified OEP founder Katie Orenstein—treated we seminar participants to a surgically compressed break-down (but not a template: I cannot stress this enough) of how op-eds work, conception to publication: the proper opening tools and hooks; tips for highlighting and establishing relevance; methods of strengthening arguments while retaining core beliefs and audience, etc. As the clock’s hands flirted with the scheduled 5 PM conclusion time, I had, in my hand, a rough yet workable outline for a possible piece and, in my head, what felt like a whole semester’s worth of glorious, insider knowledge and insight.

Because of the US’s wonderfully frustrating legal drinking age (at least in the eyes of a newly-minted 20 year-old), I was unable to attend the ensuing Happy Hour, instead opting to assist the actually wonderful Director of Operations here, Senka, clean up; to remove any sign that we were ever there. However, even though clearing the bagels and used napkins, rearranging the tables and chairs, resetting the world to as it was before was quite easy, clearing my mind of what I learned that day is nothing shy of impossible. So while I might have stepped onto the 9^th floor of 260 5^th Ave on Saturday with a firm belief that, basically, I wouldn’t learn too much that morning regarding writing an op-ed piece, just the opposite proved true: not only did I learn more than I ever conceived possible about the art, I also learned about a surprising bit about myself. Not a terrible way to spent a rainy Saturday—or a sunny one for that matter.

-Chris Fanikos is the social media intern here at The OpEd Project. He is a soon-to-be rising junior at NYU, a history major with a major interest in education and the progressing world of 21^st century marketing and media.

San Francisco Treat: April 10th OEP Public Seminar

I had a great time in San Francisco this weekend — I hadn’t been back to the Bay Area since my first OpEd experience as a participant in the Feb 6th public seminar, so I was stoked to return in my shiny new capacity as OpEd’s West Coast Outreach Extraordinaire. Sunday’s seminar was a smashing success with a stellar group of lovely ladies offering incredible insight and influence — I honestly felt truly proud and humbled to have had a hand in bringing all of them together. It’s really magical how these workshops fill up as the diversity and depth of the women who participate is always so wonderfully organic and impressive.

It was even more special because Katie, our fearless femme leader, was in town and treated this group to her serious seminar skills — I’ve seen her present 3 times now and I swear, I could listen to her spread our unique brand of thought leadership gospel everyday for the rest of my life and get something out of it every time. When the words are worthy, you really can’t say them enough, huh?

And for real icing on our change-the-conversation cake, Katie was able to share a truly moving milestone with the attendees: John Thompson (JT), who spent 18 years in prison  — 14 of them on death row — for robbery and murder charges he didn’t commit, had a published piece on his struggles in Sunday’s New York Times with the help of OEP. Last month, the Supreme Court decided 5-4 to overturn a case that JT had won against the corrupt prosecutors and district attorney who oversaw his case, ruling that they were not liable for the failure to turn over evidence that would eventually exonerate him in 2003. OEP knew there was only one more court left for JT to present his case: the court of public opinion. So he had his final say in front of millions all over the world. JT’s story of perseverance against persecution exemplifies why OEP exists — so it was a mission-affirming moment to watch Sunday’s seminar read his words while they worked to find their own voices.

Of course, we topped it all off with a toast or two afterward – always great to watch OEP alums and newbies mingling and sharing stories. The Echoing Green crew was really representing:

Thanks to all the amazing opinionistas who attended the seminar and/or happy hour — we can’t wait to see what fantastic work you publish. Looking forward to more spectacular SF seminar action on July 17th!

– Becca

OEP Advisor Marci Alboher Disputes the “Queen Bee Syndrome” on NBC’s Today Show

This morning Marci Alboher, an Op-Ed Project Advisor, made an appearance on NBC’s Today Show to discuss the “Queen Bee Syndrome.” The term describes the phenomena of female executives favoring their male subordinates over females as found in a recent study. The full clip of the segment can be watched here.

Despite the anchor’s persistent efforts to get at the underlying causes for evil “alpha” female bosses, Alboher refuses to indulge. She insists that rather than focusing on the negative aspects of those few women who have made it to the top, we need to be working on expanding the number of women in executive positions! After all, as she so cleverly puts it, there is absolutely no discussion  of “King Snake Syndrome.”

It’s appalling that so much time and attention is focused on the “phenomena” of mean, powerful women. Even worse is the fact that MSNBC published the clip under the headline “Bad female boss? She may have Queen Bee Syndrome: She’s the alpha female in the workplace who tries to preserve power at all costs.”

Thanks to Marci Alboher for so clearly and vehemently setting the framework straight!

Princeton Releases Report on Increasing Gender Disparity in Leadership Positions

In March, Princeton University published a report about the declining number of female students serving in leadership positions there (student body president, newspaper editor) or winning academic prizes and prestigious post-graduate fellowships. The study, ordered by President Shirley Tilghman, draws some frightening conclusions.

“We had assumed . . . that after the pioneering years of undergraduate coeducation at Princeton, women would have moved steadily into more and more prominence in campus leadership. “In fact, this was true through the 1980s and 1990s. But . . . there has been a pronounced drop-off in the representation of women in these prominent posts since around 2000.”

During the 1990s, for instance, 22 women served in such resume- burnishing roles. In the following decade, that number fell by nearly half, to 12 — even as the proportion of women in the class grew to nearly equal numbers. Only one woman has been elected president of the student government since 1994.

The Princeton study describes these gender imbalances as grounded in behavioral differences: women tend to “undersell themselves” and “make self-deprecating remarks,” and are “more reticent about speaking up,” where men tend “to raise their hands and express their thoughts even before they are fully formulated.”

But the most disturbing explanation is that women don’t win these offices because they choose not to run for them. They’re more likely to do the behind-the-scenes grunt work. Even as increasing numbers of women excel to the top ranks of America’s best education institutions, they remain off-stage, in the shadow of their male counterparts.

Why the backslide? Has the push for females striving towards leadership positions declined over the past decade? Or is the glass ceiling closing in from above?

As a female student at a Barnard College, Columbia University, I can speak from four years of experience in answering these questions. Since arriving at College, I have encountered very little pull or push- from the school or fellow students- to strive for positions of leadership. There is no sense of urgency for women to get to the top. Perhaps the initial increase in the number of women entering positions of power resulted in a premature conclusion that the gender gap was well on its way to closing.

But the Princeton report demonstrates how much work is left to be done. Universities are the breeding grounds of our next generation of leaders. The lack of female leadership will have tremendous repercussions if action is not taken- so what should be done?

I can confidently say that self-esteem remains a serious obstacle for many young women. In order to step into the spotlight you need confidence in your opinions, but you also need to have firm confidence in yourself. Conversely, taking a public stance is often viewed as self-indulgent. The OpEd Project works to train women on how to assert their opinions successfully. One of our key messages is that sharing opinions and ideas is not self-promoting, but essential to progress and innovation.

That same concept needs to be distilled upon young women who are on their way to positions of leadership. It can’t be denied that numerous obstacles still exist for women working to climb the ladder in the work place. We need young women to break through those challenges and step to the front of  politics, media, and business, but it is clear more action needs to be taken to assist them through that process.

Belated Documentation of Katie’s Red Carpet Debut for the Premiere of the Hollywood Film “Red Riding Hood”

"OpEd Project Tip: *Always* try to stick your butt out and give the peace sign in photos"