Last Wednesday I was contacted by a producer for ABC’s Q&A. She was calling to invite me to join tonight’s panel.
My immediate response was to offer up my editors instead. But no, apparently she was in the market for “fresh, strong women” and she had spotted me in the speaker line-up for the Walkley Foundation’s Storyology conference. As I was overcome with nausea my desire to turn down the offer fought with my fierce belief that women need to accept opportunities to be visible.
The producer could hear the hesitation in my voice. The silence that followed her request may have also been a giveaway. So she explained how difficult it was to find new women for the show as women never pitch themselves to her. Meanwhile she is inundated daily by men with their hands up to join a panel. How could I possibly say no?
At the time four of the five panelists were secured for the program and they were desperately seeking a second woman to join Melbourne University Publishing CEO Louise Adler. I was told that the topics for discussion would be asylum seekers, the ETS and child abuse. The producer was seeking my interest but she would then have to pitch me to host Tony Jones. He gets to choose his panel.
A couple of hours later she was back on the phone with the thought that I might be “too much like Louise Adler”. I’ll take that as a compliment. I assume that’s because we are both publishers, so a fair call. I am pro-diversity and that should extend to factors beyond gender. I was asked my view on asylum seekers and turning back the boats in an effort to find a difference between us. I babbled off something about being a humanitarian. I’ll be keen to hear how that compares with Louise Adler’s view.
I slipped into a state of insecurity for the next couple of days, but I needn’t have worried. She didn’t call back. On Friday Kevin Rudd announced he was redirecting all new asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea and Q&A announced the fifth panelist: Michelle Foster, director of the International Refugee Law Programme.
The Q&A panel tonight is:
Bill Shorten – Minister for Education and Workplace Relations
Tim Fischer – Former Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Sinodinos – Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition
Louise Adler – CEO of Melbourne University Publishing
Michelle Foster – Director of the International Refugee Law Programme
If you are a confident woman with something to add to the conversation, get on the phone to Q&A and pitch yourself like the men do. Perhaps if there were more women to choose from, the panel could be female-heavy (even 3:2 on a regular basis would be great) for topics other than a women’s special.