{"id":94670,"date":"2026-02-26T02:59:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T07:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informedperspectives.org\/?post_type=research&p=94670"},"modified":"2026-02-26T03:15:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:15:42","slug":"is-it-true-does-what-gets-measured-get-done","status":"publish","type":"research","link":"https:\/\/informedperspectives.org\/fr\/research\/is-it-true-does-what-gets-measured-get-done\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it true? Does \u201cwhat gets measured get done\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

That was the impetus for our Gender Gap Tracker<\/a>, which measures in real time the ratio of women vs men being quoted in Canada\u2019s most influential news outlets. (This matters because diversity of sources is a measure of quality journalism. And the news media should reflect the realities and concerns of the population they serve \u2014 50% of whom are women.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hoped that by making the data visible for all to see, we could inspire journalists to do better than they currently are. Bookmark this page<\/a> to check out how CBC, Global, CTV, The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail <\/em>and the National Post<\/em> are performing on this metric \u2014 this week, last month or in 2018 when we started monitoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More women\u2019s voices shaping Canada\u2019s public conversations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the 13 years since Informed Opinions began training women across sectors and fields to share their insights and analysis with the media, thousands of our \u201cgrads\u201d have written commentary that\u2019s been published across a wide range of Canadian print and online news platforms. Many more have said \u201cyes\u201d to media interviews that they might previously have declined. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curious to see if our training impact was translating into moving the needle in an aggregate way, in November 2019, Informed Opinions\u2019 board chair at the time, Nobina Robinson, and advisory committee member, June Webber undertook a month-long content analysis study of the online comment hubs of three daily newspapers. (These typically feature more content than their print counterparts, because space is not at such a premium.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coding efforts captured the author, gender, topic, title and affiliation of every opinion piece by both regular columnists and op ed contributors at The Globe and Mail, The Ottawa Citizen <\/em>and The Toronto Star<\/em> for the entire month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results \u2014 when compared with similar research we did in Spring of 2010<\/a> and February-March of 2013<\/a> \u2014 show that we are, indeed, making progress. Here\u2019s what we found:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the past ten years, all three papers improved the representation of female contributors to their opinion sections, increasing commentary by women by at least eight per cent, and as much as 16%. And some of the women published in each paper are, indeed, women who\u2019ve participated in our training<\/a> and\/or who are featured in our database<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data on female columnists (staff or freelance writers who are given a regular platform by the news outlet) revealed a more complicated picture. During the month of November, 57% of the published commentaries in the Toronto Star<\/em> written by regular contributors were penned by women, up from an already impressive 40% in 2013. In contrast, the percentage of female columnists at both the Ottawa Citizen<\/em> and the Globe and Mail<\/em> declined in the same period. From a high of 43% in 2013, the Citizen dropped to 12%.  Meanwhile, female columnists in the Globe <\/em>dropped from 39% seven years ago to 24% last fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


We reached out to the comment section editors of all three papers to share our findings, gain a better understanding of the editors\u2019 goals, and explore what, if anything, we might be able to do to support a more equitable representation of perspectives.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Colby at the Toronto Star<\/em> responded immediately, offering candid feedback on his process and priorities. Looking at the print version of his paper, he says, makes clear how well the Star<\/em> is doing in featuring women\u2019s perspectives. Columnists\u2019 bylines are accompanied by thumbnail photos, making it easy to see the gender breakdown. But, he says, he still receives many, many more op ed submissions from men than women, and \u2014 given the diversity of Toronto\u2019s population \u2014 he\u2019s especially focused on making sure the op eds he publishes reflect the voices of people of colour.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Colby sometimes commissions opinion pieces, he says he often finds it especially difficult to recruit female contributors able and willing to comment on Canadian politics, international affairs and financial issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Colby, Ottawa Citizen<\/em> comment page editor, Christina  Spencer, receives many more unsolicited op ed submissions from men than women, but says that when she\u2019s able to commission pieces \u2014 seeking commentary on an emerging issue or breaking story \u2014 the women she approaches are as likely to say yes as their male counterparts. But Spencer acknowledges that as part of the Post Media chain of papers, The Citizen<\/em> inherits many of its columnists from The National Post<\/em>, the vast majority of whom are male. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although we didn\u2019t receive a response to our query from the Globe<\/em>, the reduction in female voices on the columnist side may be partly a function of the recent retirement of Margaret Wente, who previously wrote three times a week. (In our 2010 research, her views made up 40% of the female perspective published on the paper\u2019s comment pages.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The splintering of news audiences means that legacy news media exert less sway over public discourse today than they did a decade ago. However, comment pages and online hubs remain influential. Politicians and policy-makers pay attention to the ideas shared and positions advocated, and broadcast journalists seeking authoritative guests able to provide context for and analysis on timely issues also turn to opinion spaces.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have argued elsewhere<\/a> for the importance of ensuring that such spaces \u2014 and news coverage more broadly \u2014 provide a diversity of perspectives more generally, and better reflect women\u2019s perspectives in particular. It\u2019s encouraging to see the progress reflected in this most recent research. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That was the impetus for our Gender Gap Tracker, which measures in real time the ratio of women vs men being quoted in Canada\u2019s most influential news outlets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91949,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"research_category":[1409,1410],"class_list":["post-94670","research","type-research","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","research_category-media-monitoring","research_category-featured"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs it true? 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