Yahoo Lifestyle Sydney Morning Herald Editor Calls Out Sexism In The Industry
Amanda Wilson.
Amanda Wilson, the only woman to helm The Sydney Morning Herald in its 180-year history, has spoken out about sexism in the industry.
The former newspaper editor wrote an open essay for The Guardian in which she outlined the poor treatment she'd endured while in the office.
"While I acknowledged at the time I had a lot to learn as a leader, I was ill prepared for the inevitable gender criticism," Wilson wrote. "I was gobsmacked when a corporate trainer told me to smile more. I was taken aback to get an anonymous letter from someone I assumed to be a member of staff asking who I'd had to f*** to get the job."
But the letter didn’t just stop there – the author described Wilson as "shallow, talentless, fat ***ed and unloved b*** with no leadership qualities, no empathy and no vision."
"No wonder your partner dumped you early on," it continued. "He could see what a shallow, evil b*** you are. The best thing you could do would be to resign before you trash that great paper further. If you continue, the hatred might build up to the point where someone might even punch you out in the lift."
Considering it's the year 2014, it's alarming this sort of treatment is still going on in the industry, or at all.
But sadly, sexism is nothing new, and the last few months have seen a slew of high-profile females either fired or "made redundant" from their jobs in the media industry for murky reasons.
Jill Abramson, the first female editor of The New York Times, was unceremoniously asked to leave her post just last week. She lasted just a couple of years in the job, with rumours suggesting she'd been shown the door after asking for a pay raise.
As Wilson points out, even someone as successful as Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, is not immune.
"As she wrote in her book Lean In, women are expected to be helpful and nurturing, never to ask for pay rises and to be pleasantly surprised when someone offers them one, otherwise they risk breaching what Sandberg calls the likability gap," wrote Wilson. "The more powerful a woman is, the more poisonous this is."
Wilson shies away from discouraging women from seeking leadership, but says it's necessary for them to find a good mentor in the industry so they gain honest feedback in a safe environment.
“Media must keep the talent 'pipeline' well filled with young women who get all the mentoring and training they need to be newsroom leaders now and tomorrow," said Wilson. "A truly gender-diverse organisation has women contributing at all levels of the organisation, sitting around the daily conference table, joining the executive leadership team and every other forum up to the boardroom."
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