Women and Democracy Online

Marie Tessier

Marie Tessier

Gender Imbalance in the Comments Section

New York Times journalist Marie Tessier will discuss women’s participation in online civic conversations during a lecture at Dickinson, “Suffragist 3.0: Women and Democracy Online,” on Thursday, April 27, at 7 p.m. in the Stern Center Great Room.

Tessier leads the team moderating comments on the NYTimes.com Opinion pages and contributes to opinion blogs. A 2015 study of the Times’ comment section found women represent only a quarter of overall commenters. As a comment curator, Tessier will discuss why this gender imbalance is problematic. She will address its causes and how society can work for greater equality in expression.

Before coming to the Times, Tessier worked for 20 years as an adjunct professor of journalism. She has also been on the staff of The Washington Post, National Public Radio, the Tampa Bay Times and Marketplace radio. Her work has appeared in Ms. magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle and many other news sources. Prior to her reporting career, she worked at the League of Women Voters and served on the team producing presidential debates.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund and the departments of American studies and women’s, gender & sexuality studies. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, “Media, Technology and Civic Engagement” and the Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty series.

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Published April 19, 2017