May Is Who's Talking Month. Who's Dominating In Public Discourse?

During the month of May, we’re highlighting a function of the GA Tally that we don’t talk about as much — Time Who’s Talking.

Most of the time we focus on the Count Who’s Present part of the Tally, where users can count the number of men, women, women of color, and non-binary persons on a panel, on a speaker list, quoted in an article, etc. We all know, though, that just because there are an equal number of men and women present, it doesn’t mean the talk time is equal. With Time Who’s Talking, users can track who is talking minute by minute, second by second.

Take this example of a virtual town council meeting. There are an equal number of men and women, but men clearly dominated the conversation. When it comes to something as important as deciding on the operating budget or general direction for an entire town, shouldn’t the voices of ALL the elected officials be heard equally?

What are you hearing out there? Are men dominating your virtual meetings? Can women get a word in on the news panel you’re watching?

Tally it up to find out, and then, since the app makes it so easy to do, share it with them, us, and everyone else. Even though we’re self isolating, we can still work together to make sure women’s voices are a part of every conversation, especially during this time when the conversations we have in the public dialog can have a huge impact on all our futures.