Women Who Write Tough and the Men Who Love Them

Posted on March 13, 2005

Maureen Dowd shares her thoughts about the controversy about the lack of women writing Op-ed columns, in an interesting article. Ms. Dowd notes that out of the nine Op-ed editors at The New York Times, she is the only woman. But why are there so few women who write serious opinion pieces? Ms. Dowd has some theories:

Guys don't appreciate being lectured by a woman. It taps into myths of carping Harpies and hounding Furies, and distaste for nagging by wives and mothers. The word "harridan" derives from the French word "haridelle"--a worn-out horse or nag.
Men take professional criticism more personally when it comes from a woman. When I wrote columns about the Clinton impeachment op�ra bouffe, Chris Matthews said that for poor Bill, it must feel as though he had another wife hectoring him.
While a man writing a column taking on the powerful may be seen as authoritative, a woman doing the same thing may be seen as castrating. If a man writes a scathing piece about men in power, it's seen as his job; a woman can be cast as an emasculating man-hater. I'm often asked how I can be so "mean"--a question that Tom Friedman, who writes plenty of tough columns, doesn't get.

We don't get it either. We like women who aren't afraid to tackle the tough topics in print. After all, being a shrinking violet is never going to get you anywhere in the journalism business.