Editor’s note: Today’s lead story is from Formidable Founder and CEO Emily Parkhurst and is part of our new Be Formidable series, where we offer insights into how the media works, how to establish your personal brand, and what to know about building a media strategy.
Women are half the population but are quoted by the press only 25% of the time. That’s a problem and it’s why I started Formidable Media. But before I launched the company, I really had to meditate on why it is that women don’t talk to the press. I spent nearly 20 years in newsrooms both as a reporter and as an editor directing coverage and in that time I worked hard to try to ensure we included women sources in our reporting.
It was far more difficult than I’d imagined.
As a reporter, when you call up a woman leader and ask her to comment for a story, nine times out of 10 she will tell you she isn’t the right person, tell you she isn’t an expert in that topic or simply decline to participate. I really had to spend some time thinking about why that is and I’ve come to two conclusions:
First up, the media hasn’t always been fair to women. We ask women patronizing and insulting questions. We’ll ask them how they balance raising children with their career, while never asking men the same thing. We’ll focus on looks or clothing choice instead of expertise and intellect. And god forbid a woman says something people don’t like. She’ll be vilified or worse, threated or doxed. She might lose her influence or even her job. There’s a good reason women are hesitant to talk to the press.
But even if you find a media outlet like Formidable that treats women like the experts they are, women are still hesitant to comment for news stories. Women are gendered from a young age to apologize for having opinions. You hear it all the time in Zoom calls or elsewhere when the woman starts her sentence with: “I’m sorry, but can I jump in here?” We are told that it’s unladylike to “show off” your intellect or share strong opinions. We are told we need to check every box before declaring ourselves experts.
As a result, when you tell a woman she’s an expert and you want to hear her thoughts on a particular topic, she’ll immediately downplay her expertise. Think about it. If I called you tomorrow and asked you to comment on a major news story about your industry, told you that you were an expert on the topic and I wanted the world to hear what you had to say, you might be flattered but you might also have a knee-jerk reaction and say “I’m not really an expert on that topic. I know something about it but I wouldn’t call myself an expert.”
After 20 years in newsrooms, I can tell you with certainty that men do not do this. Ever. I cannot think of a time a man told me he was unqualified to comment for a story. Even when they truly are not experts, most men will share their opinion on a topic and do so gleefully on the record with journalists. As a result, they get quoted 75% of the time.
So here’s my call to action: Stop downplaying your expertise. Your experience and point of view have value. When you decline to talk to the press, you are depriving the world of that point of view.
Here’s the first step you can take if you want to showcase your expertise and lean into media opportunities. Make a list of topics you could talk about for 10 minutes with zero prep. These could be topics from your work life, like enterprise transformation, AI in health care, mergers and acquisitions, nonprofit fundraising, etc. They could also be from your personal life, like raising children with special needs, being a musician or training for the Iron Man. Try to be specific about these topics. Then start thinking about the audience you’d want to reach if you were seeking to showcase that expertise.
In our next iteration of this column, we’ll dive into audience identification and discuss how to work backwards from there to determine which media is right for your expertise.
Interested in getting some one-on-one help establishing yourself as an expert and building a media strategy? That’s what Formidable Membership is all about. Consider applying to become a member today.
