The Power of Influence: Men Often Choose Men for Best-of Lists, But We Can Change That.
A week ago, Kiersten Marek, LICSW wrote on LinkedIn:
Her post was in response to the article from EIN Newswire “Top 7 LinkedIn Voices and Influencers”, in which seven men’s profiles were highlighted as the most important voices for us to listen to on that platform. The list shared the impact of LinkedIn and linked out to each influencer’s Twitter account and website. There are no women or non-binary voices on this list, and no Black, Hispanic, or Indigenous voices are represented on this list, either. Like any awesome GenderAvenger, Kiersten tagged us for support.
By the numbers, women are definitely present in social media:
According to the 2021 Pew Research Center Social Media Fact Sheet, 78% of respondents that use at least one social media platform are women, with only 66% being men. When they break down the data even further by platform usage, 31% of men and 26% of women use LinkedIn, with 25% of men and 22% of women using Twitter. Why does this matter? It matters because the numbers that convey who is on LinkedIn show us that the gender representation in this “Top 7” list is skewed.
Which raises questions that beg for answers:
Who is an influencer, who determines why their voice matters, and how do we create more inclusive lists?
One of Kiersten’s commenters pointed out:
The article states that the seven are based on ‘content quality, engagement, and outputs,’ which sounds very subjective. Is it according to the [articles’] writer or what the writer believes to be useful to LinkedIn users?
This article bases expertise on subjective numbers that perpetuate power monopolies that favor men.
EIN Presswire is essentially a global digital press release platform and is far from LinkedIn's own lists. LinkedIn has their own top 10 Influencers of the year on LinkedIn. A comparative 2015 LinkedIn’s list was 30% women without any non-binary, Black, Indigenous, or Hispanic voices. However, if you check out the LinkedIn Top Voices for 2020 from November, you’ll find an exciting and diverse list of leaders across a variety of industries. Good for LinkedIn!
You have homework! Here are a few things you can do increase diversity on best-of lists and beyond:
Demand more of the industry… aka the folks making these lists. Question their motives. Are they making lists as a marketing ploy to be seen by the people listed? The GA Tally app is a useful tool for calling out all-male and all-white lists. It creates pie charts based on the numbers to visually lay bare the imbalances in top lists, speaker lineups, and more.
Demand more of the community. Why do we blindly accept some “experts” over others? What is our collective responsibility and collective power to elevate the voices that we agree are the experts around us? How does our community ensure that our experts bring a diverse subset of experiences in our respective fields?
Demand more of ourselves. Whose voices do I value as an individual? Are these voices diverse? What can I do to support a narrative shift in my industry? A good place to start is by looking at the balance of people you are connected with on social media. Proporti.onl is a tool for Twitter that estimates the gender distribution of your followers and those you follow based on their profile descriptions and first names.
When lists like this appear, echo chambers that enforce male dominance in fields where men actually do not dominate in proportion to their population size, we perpetuate the notion of power as distinctly male. Essentially, this results in men taking up too much space and having an outsized influence. We combat this by calling it out, challenging these narratives, and creating our own spaces and our own lists, as well as moving beyond labels like “influencer” that disenfranchise the user as a mindless consumer and follower.
We do have the power to change the narrative.
These lists are lucrative and unlikely to end soon, at least within their narrower spheres of influence, but we do have the power to change the culturally normalized narrative of men’s natural dominance. Women and non-binary people’s voices, Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic voices, belong on these lists. We are powerful forces within our professions and our communities, and our exclusion from the lists that would name and celebrate us is a glaring omission that excludes most of the population. But we can, and are, creating change.
Do your homework, encourage others to do theirs, and call out ridiculous lists like the one Kiersten Marek shared, and those all-male lists can become the embarrassing artifacts of the past they should be.