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ABOUT The OpEd Project is an initiative to expand public debate, with an immediate emphasis on enlarging the pool of women experts who are accessing (and accessible to) our nation's key print and online forums—which are a gateway into public debate, feed all other media, and are a hub of thought leadership.
What we do: Since women currently do not submit op-eds with anywhere near the frequency that men do, we target and train women experts in all fields to write for the op-ed pages of major print and online forums of public discourse. We work with top universities, non-profits, corporations, women’s organizations and community leaders across the nation. We also offer seminars open to the public in major cities across the nation. Seminar participants are added to a database of women experts, connected with our community of writers and mentors, and go into a feeder system for op-ed, radio, television and other media venues.
Our Vision is to create a sea change in our nation’s conversation by empowering a wave of women to write op-eds, join the public discourse and encourage and refer other women to do the same—creating a multiplier effect that will alter the patterns of under-representation of women in media rolodexes and inboxes, and expand the pool of visible female talent. Our vision is also for a truly merit-based public debate. Rather than demanding editors meet gender quotas (perhaps at the expense of publishing the best op-eds), The OpEd Project presumes we are all equally smart, talented and valuable – and will be equally represented in public debate if given the opportunity.
 Why this matters: Our leaders and our public are not getting the best information and ideas we need to make the best decisions. Our position is not that women need our help, but just the opposite: we think the public, and more specifically public debate, needs women. Our national conversation is currently an echo chamber that reproduces the voices and opinions of a very narrow slice of society: 85% (mostly white, privileged) men. Even worse among academics: a May 2008 Rutgers University study found that 97% of op-eds by scholars in the Wall Street Journal are written by men. What is the cost to society when half of the nation’s best minds and best ideas – women’s minds and women’s ideas – are left out? If you were trying to catch the best and biggest fish, would you fish in only half the pond? |
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