Nicola Young: Women's words are also very wise

Nicola Young Photo/File

The silly season has started and for news junkies like myself it means trawling through lightweight lists to find stories of substance.

Yes, the annual list-of-things stories have started doing the rounds. These stories often involve "interviewing the typewriter", where the reporter writes whatever is in his or her head.

Sometimes they are a collection of other people's views sandwiched together for impact, as if the opinions of a group of talking heads carries greater weight. This technique is often used in political round-ups with "balance" achieved through including left and right commentators - though all that does is form a predictable list of countered views.

Occasionally these lists make me smile, like the alternative list of what women are not allowed to wear.

The original "listicle", as these list-based articles are disparagingly called, was a summary of the atrocious clothing rules applied in United States high schools this year. It included girls' shoulders needing to be covered and a ban on shorts for girls - the justifications being to avoid distracting male students and teachers.

The spoof version of the list I came across that prompted a smile included items like "loafers that are actually just dead seagulls you jammed your feet into" and "necklace made of human ears" - those tips are ones I can appreciate.

The ruckus about a listicle this week has been the New Zealand quotes of the year, co-ordinated by Massey University. Out of the 10 quotes, only one was by a woman. In fact, over the five years this competition has been running, there have been only five quotes by women - total.

The National Council of Women has started a social media campaign looking for alternative quotes from women under the #QuoteWomen2015 banner. As their president Rae Duff said, women are equally as "clever, witty, inspiring, cutting, kind, mean and everything else in-between".

I dug out one of my faves from Dame Anne Salmond earlier this year: "While our leaders do not shoot people, they work with others to try to ruin the lives and careers of those who disagree with them."

I was surprised the quote from Chief Ombudsman Dame Beverley Wakem describing the media as sometimes acting like "rottweilers on heat" in relation to Official Information Act (OIA) requests was missing. It certainly prompted a doozy cartoon from Sharon Murdoch.

Wakem has a report into the OIA coming out soon - am I pushing the proverbial uphill in writing about this legislation? I guess it sounds boring to most people but in my view it is an essential foundation stone for open democracy.

When I was a public servant, my colleagues and I were respectful of the OIA and also a bit scared of getting caught out. We knew that if we "did the crime" (wrote down something stupid), then we'd "do the time" (get exposed in the newspaper as being stupid).

I thought that was fair enough, but it looks like it's becoming harder to shine sunlight into dark corners. Official Information Act requests are getting knocked back and resourcing at the Ombudsman's office means it is often taking more than a year for a review to be completed. An impressive young journalist on www.thespinoff.co.nz is Alex Casey, who's just started a new column, On the Rag, about women in the media, perhaps prompted by the lack of women contained in the annual quotes. It is well worth a look.

On a positive note, the silly season is also when hard news dries up and there's more space for inspiring stories about Kiwis doing good. If you have a quirky good news story about a community doing something special, now may be your time to shine.

-Nicola Young has worked in the government and private sectors in Australia and NZ and now works from home in Taranaki for a national charitable foundation. Educated at Wanganui Girls' College, she has a science degree and is the mother of two boys.