When it comes to the Times Leader’s “Lead Apron” poll, the winner is the Times’ latest leader, who will be officially announced at noon on Monday.
(See TIME’s coverage of the Times Leaders’ Forum.)
The Times has been widely criticized for its failure to make a clear distinction between male and female leaders.
The leader is a matter of fashion, of course.
In 2014, the Times ran an ad in its news section that featured a man wearing a tuxedo in a white suit, standing with a woman in a red tux.
The ad was controversial, with some commentators questioning the appropriateness of the ad.
The Times responded by creating a separate section on the homepage for Times reporters and staff.
(Read TIME’s profile of Times reporter Lauren French.)
“The Times believes it is important to recognize that the Times is a newspaper and not an organization, and it is our job to identify and acknowledge the gender of the editors, writers, and publishers who compose our news and opinion,” a Times spokesperson told TIME.
But this isn’t the first time the Times has used a turtleneck.
In 2009, Times’ deputy editor, Peter Baker, wore a t-shirt with the words “Women Make Up 90% of the Nation” on it, to illustrate the Times was a women-centric newspaper.
Baker, who now works for CNN, had to apologize for the ad, which was pulled from circulation.
“It’s a personal expression of my own personal beliefs,” Baker told TIME at the time.
“And I think we’ve done a poor job of identifying the gender in our editorial teams.”
The issue of gender representation in newsrooms has been a thorny one for the Times.
The paper’s recent leadership shuffle has been criticized for having an effect on gender diversity in the workplace.
In 2017, the NYT published an editorial saying that female journalists were underrepresented in journalism, a statement that was widely criticized.
At the time, New York Times Editor in Chief Margaret Sullivan said that the newspaper was changing its approach to diversity and that the editors would no longer use the term “women in journalism.”
“We want to be clear that we don’t think this is an issue of representation,” she said.
“This is an important issue that affects a broad swath of people who want to get in the newsroom, who want a voice in the profession, and that includes women.”
“We are committed to hiring women in journalism,” she added.
“We are not changing our position on this issue.”
