47 Reports on Media Gender Bias compiled by Ariel Dougherty page 1
ADDENDUM to Public Comments to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Submitted by National Council on Women's Organizations/Media & Technology Task Force
Plethora of Reports on Gender Bias in Media – Mostly During 2012
– compiled by Ariel Dougherty Media Equity Collaborative @mediaequity
The number – 25 – of reports that came out during the first six months of 2012 prompted collection of this data
into a table. The sheer number, range of different forms of media, and the persistence lack of change speak to deeply
entrenched cultural attitudes of bias against women in all aspects of the media & culture. Here are listed 47 separate reports that collectively map out extensive gender bias in all aspects of media.
The field of feminist media producers has demanded a broad definition of media to be inclusive of all forms of
cultural making as well as the more traditionally perceived mainstream venues of print, radio, films and television.
Name of Report Author(s) Sponsoring Org Media Focus Date Release
Press Freedom Index 2011/2012
Pdf:
http://en.rsf.org/IMG/CLASSEMENT_2012/CLASSEMENT_ANG.pdf
Reporters Without Borders article: http://en.rsf.org/pre
ss-freedom-index-2011-
2012,1043.html
International Press Freedom USA ranks #47
December 2012
The Learning Resource Kit
for Gender-Ethical Journalism and Media House
Policy
http://whomakesthenews.org/
Conceptual Issues
Practical Resources
Sarah Macharia, Editor
World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) & the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
Tools for Change:
Outgrowth of the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) that creates Who Makes The News. EXCELLENT ! List of Policy in many many countries; analysis about reporting on gender violence; more
December 2012
Gender Roles & Occupations:
A Look at Character Attributes and Job-Related
Aspirations in Film and Television
http://www.seejane.org/rese
arch/
Stacy L. Smith,
PhD | Marc
Choueiti |
Ashley
Prescott |
Katherine
Pieper, PhD
Annenberg School
for Communication
& Journalism
University of
Southern California
for Geena Davis Institute on Gender In Media
Film & TV: + “Children!s programs
(30.5%) and comedy series
(31.5%) are the most
imbalanced genres in prime
time, with less than a third of
all on screen speaking
characters coded as girls or
women.”
+ “not one speaking
character plays a powerful
American female political
figure across 5,839
speaking characters in 129
family films”
+ ….etc.
11/13/12
47 Reports on Media Gender Bias compiled by Ariel Dougherty page 2
Article: Girls Fight Guns With
Books
By Ashfaq
Yusufzai
IPS Inter Press Service http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/10/girls-determined-to-fight-guns-with-books/
The struggle for girl
education. While this example is of Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, the issue is universal,
including Sandy Hook Elementary School.
10/12/12
Women Leaders on
Sustainability
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/women-leaders-sustainability-discussion-highlights
Tim Smedley,
writes up
discussion
Discussion sponsored by Guardian Sustainable Business
Sustainability in business: Women to lead in innovation, collaboration, community centered; shift “policy-culture”
10/11/12
There Is No News Like Bad
News: Women Are More Remembering and Stress
Reactive after Reading Real Negative News than Men
Abstract:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0047189
Marie-France Marin, Julie-Katia Morin-Major, Tania E. Schramek, Annick Beaupré, Andrea Perna, Robert-Paul Juster, Sonia J. Lupien
PLOSOne.org Effects of 24 hr news via TV, devices: “negative news....led to a
significant increase in
cortisol to a subsequent stressor in women only. Also, women in the negative news condition experienced better memory for these news excerpts compared to men.”
October 10, 2012
Broadband Commission Report Article w/ link to pdf on report:
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourperspective/ourperspectivearticles/2013/01/10/the-internet-gender-gap-magdy-martinez-soliman.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ungen+%28UN+gender+equality+news+feed%29&utm_content=
A Report by the
Broadband
Commission
Internet access and cell phone use “women are 21% less likely to own a mobile phone than men”
September
2012
"Positive Female Role-Models Eliminate Negative Effects of
Sexually Violent Media” abstract:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01666.x/abstract
Christopher J. Ferguson Study done at Southern University
“Journal of Communications” Article: The Atlantic http://www.theatlantic.c
om/health/archive/2012
/08/study-we-benefit-
from-seeing-strong-
women-on-tv/261790/
Sexual Violence in media Women who watched
sexually violent media were
more anxious, and males
who watched sexually
violent media had more
negative attitudes toward
women,.....
August 2012
47 Reports on Media Gender Bias compiled by Ariel Dougherty page 3
Independent Women:
Behind-the-Scenes Representation on
Festival Films
By Martha M. Lauzen, Ph.D Pdf of Ex Sum in
O Rpt file
Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film, Univ of San Diego
http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/pdf2ht
ml.php?url=http%3A%
2F%2Fwomenintvfilm.
sdsu.edu%2Ffiles%2F2
012_Independent_Wom
en_Exec_Summ.pdf&i
mages=yes
Independent Film ++ Women 39% of the people working on documentaries ++ 18% on narrative features.
August 2012
Gender Diversity and
Corporate performance
Credit Suisse https://infocus.credit-suisse.com/.../csri_gender_diversity_and_
Leadership: ...the evidence suggests that a bit more balance on the board [women to men] brings with it a bit less volatility and a bit more balance through the cycle....
August 2012
Tropes vs Women in Video
Games
http://kck.st/JijdIr
Anita Karkeesian
Feminist Frequency feministfrequency.com
VIDEO GAMES: Kickstarter campaign to
raise $6K: stereotyping of women in video games.
Huge uproar of misogyny
followed. Ultimately 6,968 backers supplied
$158,922 to see project
realized.
May-June 2012
Racial and Gender Differences
in the Relationship Between
Children’s Television Use and
Self-Esteem: A Longitudinal
Panel Study
Nicole Martins and Kristen Harrison
First published, Communications
Research http://crx.sagepub.com/
content/39/3/338.abstract
effects of television consumption on global self-esteem; esp adverse effects on boys of color & all girls.
June 2012
Article: New Media—but Familiar Lack of Diversity: Women, people of color still
marginalized online
Janine Jackson FAIR fair.org/index.php?page=4551
New media – numerous examples of bias
June 2012
Article: Challenges for Non-Sexist Communication in
Cuba
By Ivet González
IPS - GenderWire http://ipsnews.ne
t/news.asp?idne
ws=108111
Estalblished Policy: Journalism & film in CUBA
June 2012
GIRL TECH REPORT 2010-
2011
Media Literacy Project http://medialiteracyproj
ect.org/programs/girl-
tech-collective
Report on skills building for young women of color
June 2012
47 Reports on Media Gender Bias compiled by Ariel Dougherty page 4
SILENCED Gender Gap in
the 2012 Election Coverage
http://www.4thestate.net/female-voices-in-media-infographic/
4th Estate – Visualizing how Media
Influences Us
MSM – print & TV May 2012
<WOMEN RULE>
Women Who Tech
http://www.womenwhotech.com/womenin
techinfographic.html
Tech data & women owned companies
May 2012
Enuf Already!
Linda Stein Have Art: Will Travel, Inc Newsletter
Art Market: for women painters yield vastly under that of men!!
May 29, 2012
Gender Gap Among Top Journalists
4th Estate http://www.4thestate.
net/gender-gap-
among-top-print-journalists/
Reporters on the election!
May 25, 2012
Article: The Price of Being Female
By S.T. The Economist http://www.economis
t.com/blogs/prospero/
2012/05/post-war-artists-auction
Women artists (visual) auction prices
May 20, 2012
Gender Report esp see this: http://genderreport.com/2012/11/04/byline-report-who-writes-the-news-online-3-months/
Jasmine Linabary @genderreport
GenderReport.com
a blog... A closer look at gender and online news
On-line news that reports this discrimination
Weekly Updates esp: Nov 4, 2012
Article; Women Artists Still Face Discrimination
Eleanor J. Bader
TruthOut.org http://truth-
out.org/news/item/89
71-women-artists-still-face-
discrimination
Various data on visual arts
May 10, 2012
The Status of Women In the
US Media, 2012
Robin H. Pugh Yi, PhD; Craig T. Dearfield, MA
Women’s Media Center www.womensmediacenter.com/pages/the-problem
news, literature, and television and film entertainment: “Women comprised just 5% of directors, 15% of writers, and 4% of cinematrographers”
March 2012
“A Rising Tide: Financing
Strategies for Women-Owned Firms,”
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Women-owned companies
May 2012
47 Reports on Media Gender Bias compiled by Ariel Dougherty page 5
Women of Color Directed 1
Percent of TV Episodes Last Season, Make $23,325 Less
Than Male Writers
By Alyssa Rosenberg
Think Progress http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/04/20/468432/women-of-color-in-television-part-1-the-numbers/
“women of color directed just 1 percent of 2,600 television episodes that aired during that period (men of color drirected 11% of those espisodes”
04/20/12
“Four Steps Back-NO Women
Directors in Competition at Cannes”
http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/four-steps-back-no-women-directors-in-competition-at-cannes
Melissa Silverstein
Women and Hollywood
This premiere film festival showcases NO women directed films in competition.
April 19, 2012
Infographic: The Gender Pay Gap
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news/2012/04/16/11435/infographic-the-gender-pay-gap/
Matt Separa Center for American Progress
Median INCOMES - 2010
April 16, 2012
Not A Pretty Picture: The Economics of Feminist
Culture Presentation at Sarah Lawrence
College
Ariel Dougherty
Media Equity Collaborative
Update 1980s data of NEA support of women arts organizations – 2010 support: 1/3 of
peak in 1980!
March 2012
The Count [2012] annual analysis by this literary arts organization
VIDA- Women in Literary Arts http://www.vidaweb.org/the-count
By lines in literary publications: +The
New York Review of
Books -- 19 women to 133 male writers.
Feb 2012
Asymmetrical Academy
Awards2: Another Look at Gender in Best Picture
Nominated Films from 1977-2010
annenberg.usc.edu/.../News/~/.../Asymmetrical2012Report.ash
Stacy L Smith, Marc Chourceiti & Stephanie Gall
University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Communications & Journalism
Hollywood Films: +“..of 1,425 speaking characters only 32.6% are female...” + “The most recent best picture nominated (2007-10) have nearly as many femle directors as those spanning 30 years (1977-2006)
Feb 22, 2012
47 Reports on Media Gender Bias compiled by Ariel Dougherty page 6
THE CELLULOID
CEILING: BEHIND-THE-SCENES EMPLOYMENT
OF WOMEN IN THE TOP 250 FILMS OF
2011
Martha M. Lauzen, Ph.D.
Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film, Univ of San Diego http://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/research.html
Annual film industry breakdown of women to men – women directors at 5%
Feb 2012
Article: Sundance Institute
and Women in Film Spotlight Challenges Facing Women
Filmmakers
Melissa Howland
We Are Movie Geeks (also @) http://www.sundance.org/press-center/release/sundance-institute-and-women-in-film-spotlight-challenges-facing-women-film/
Independent Film: only 16.7% submissions to Sundance by women
Jan 23, 2012
Citizen Unindated: How big-
money politics and broadcast
media are poisoning democratic
discourse and undermining U.S.
elections ... and what we can do
about it
Timothy Karr Free Press Pdf link in article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/campaign-ads-2012_b_1233354.html
“political influence money
that begins with contributions from wealthy corporations and
individuals and ends up in the bank accounts of some of the most powerful television conglomerates in
the United States.”
January 2012
EARLIER THAN 2012 – BUT IMPORTANT
Race and Gender-
Consciousness Policies; Toward A More Egalitarian
Communications Future
By Carolyn M. Byerly, Yong Jin Park & Reginald D. Miles
The Howard Media Group, Published in Journal of Information Policy, Vol 1.
“Women have found the
greatest difficulty gaining
legal ground for gender
equality in
communications policy.” +Women own-5%TV; 6%Radio +Minorities own
Late 2011
Exploring the Digital Nation Computer and Internet Use At
Home
Economics and Statistics
Administration &
National
Telecommunicati
ons and
Information
Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce
Development of high-speed internet and its correlation w/ net access and economic growth
Nov 2011
47 Reports on Media Gender Bias compiled by Ariel Dougherty page 7
Social Justice Documentary
Designing for Impact
www.centerforsocialmedia.org/designing-impact
Jessica Clark and Barbara Abrash
Center for Social Media, American University and Center for Media, Culture and History, New York University
Case study of six
documentaries for their
social impact – esp interesting comment
regarding women's
organizations lack of awareness about social
uses of media
Sept 2011
The Contract with Women of the USA State legislators
Initiative 1996-2011
Center for Women Policy Studies http://www.centerwomenpolicy.org/programs/contract/TheContractwithWomenoftheUSAReportJune2011.asp
Examination of 12 points of Beijing Platform for Action; Media is Platform J
June 2011
Global Report on the Status of Women in New Media
http://iwmf.org/pioneering-change/global-research-on-women-in-the-news-media.aspx
By Carolyn M.Byerly
International Women’s Media Foundation
Global survey on news, heavy on print, less radio & TV-forms a baseline + “73 percent of the top management jobs are occupied by men”
March 2011
Behind the Scenes of
Women's Broadcast Ownership
By Carolyn M. Byerly
Howard Journal of Communications http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10646175.2011.546740
Women own less than 6%
of broadcast stations: how do they enter this market & how do communications policy, economics and
sexual politics exclude women from ownership
Name It Change It, sexism and Equality Don’t Mix
www.lakeresearch.com
Lake Research Partners
Suvey of 800 votes on hypothetical Congressional contest between a female & male candidate
Sep 2010
SNAPSHOT: Foundation
Support for Gender Justice Media Organizations
www.mediaequity.org
Ariel Dougherty
Media Equity Collaborative
In examinating 20 sample women directed media orgs & their support, underscores lack of core, sustained support for this field
June 2010
Where Are The Women?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2010/04/where_are_the_women.html
Alicia C. Shepard
National Public Radio by their Ombudsman
“when it comes to female voices from outside NPR, the network is not as diverse on air as it would like to think”
April 2010
47 Reports on Media Gender Bias compiled by Ariel Dougherty page 8
WHO MAKES THE NEWS
http://whomakesthenews.org/
Forward by Margaret Gallagher
Global Media Monitoring Project
MOST
SIGNIFICANT
GLOBAL STUDY every-5-yr report on gender in global media 24% - women in print
and airtime (Globally)
28% - (US & Canada)
Feb 2010
“Why So Few: Women in Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics”
Catherine Hill American Association of University Women (AAUW) http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/whysofew.cfm
“profiles of eight key research findings that point to environmental and
social barriers – including stereotypes, gender bias and the climate of science
and engineering departments in colleges and universities – that
continue to block women’s participation and progress in science, technology, engineering, and math.”
2010
Gender in Televised Sports:
News and Highlight Shows, 1989-2009.
http://www.usc.edu/dept/cfr/html/home.htm
Michael Messner and Cheryl Cooky
University of Southern California
Women’s sports news coverage has evaporated to an appalling 1.6% (2009) from an abysmal high of 8.7% (1999)
2009
Digital Inclusion: Working Both Sides of the Equation
Chapter in Communications
Research in Action: Scholar-Activist
Collaborations for a … By Philip M.
Napoli
By Dorothy Kidd with Eloise Lee
Department of Media Studies, University of San Francisco a project of Media Alliance
Excellent activist project that develops creative media policy models within a community setting. All women participants in project
2010
GERMINAL STUDY
Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualization.html
Eileen L.Zurbriggen,PhD (Chair) Rebecca L.Collins,PhD Sharon Lamb,EdD Tomi-Ann Roberts,PhD Deborah L.Tolman,EdD
L.Monique Ward,PhD Jeanne Blake (Public Member)
American Psychological Association 750 First Street,NE, Washington,DC
20002-4242.
Germinal study – “Virtually every media form studied provides ample
evidence of the sexualization of women, including television, music videos, music lyrics, movies, magazines, sports media, video games, the Internet and advertising”
2007
Contact, Media & Technology Co-chairs: Shireen Mitchell, 202.642.1881 [email protected]
Ariel Dougherty, 575.740.5868 [email protected] @MediaEquity MTTF, NCWO 714 G Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003