Women in media urged ‘to stick together’

Broadsheet hosted a panel discussion Tuesday night

Women in media
Freelance writers and panelists celebrate women in media by offering advice at the Broadsheet panel discussion Tuesday night. From left to right: Diane Peters, Takara Smal and Candace Maracle.  Emilie Must/Toronto Observer

Working as a freelance journalist is hard enough, but for a woman it’s even tougher.

That was the consensus of the panelists at a discussion on women in media Tuesday evening, hosted by the women’s group Broadsheet.

Buzzfeed Canada’s managing editor, Lauren Strapagiel moderated the panel discussion with four freelance journalists at Supermarket in Kensington Market.

“We started Broadsheet after the Jian Ghomeshi allegations came out,” Strapagiel told the audience at the beginning. The group was created for women to have a safe space to discuss their careers and offer advice.

Freelance writers ‘need to support each other’

It was an event by women, for women, encouraging women in media to stick together and empower one another in the industry.

Women are often pigeon-holed into writing about issues and topics that relate to them, speakers said.

“Women are often assigned service pieces or parenting articles, opposed to an investigative piece,” freelance journalist Diane Peters said.

Eternity Martis said she often feels like the token black woman in the newsroom. She is often assigned articles making her “the voice of the entire Black community,” she said.

For freelance writers, sending a pitch to a new editor is scary and can create a feeling of impostor syndrome.

Tech writer Takara Smal said she still feels like an impostor when writing for news publications.

“I feel like that all the time,” Smal said. “Often times it’s women rather than men who feel that.”

It all comes down to aggressiveness. Women don’t want to be seen as rude and will be less likely to fight for a story, than their male colleagues, speakers agreed.

Indigenous filmmaker, Candace Maracle learned how to quickly get over hearing the word “No” from editors.

“I’ve gotten pretty used to rejection,” Maracle said.

Freelance writers live assignment to assignment, focusing on the hope that their pitch will get accepted.

“When women in media talk to each other, we empower one another,” Strapagiel said.

women in journalism

Discussing the struggles of a woman in journalism at Broadsheet’s event Tuesday night are, from left to right, Lauren Strapagiel, Diane Peters, Takara Smal, Candace Maracle and Eternity Martis.  (Emilie Must/Toronto Observer)

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Posted: Mar 15 2017 3:59 pm
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