in the news
The Glass Ceiling in Media
Think the glass ceiling is gone – or just an outdated metaphor? Think again.
Tekla Szymanski, PINK Magazine Knowledge Bank
"Equal rights for the sexes will be achieved when mediocre women occupy high positions," the French writer and feminist Françoise Giroud (1916-2003) once said. Does that strike you as too harsh an assessment? Then consider this: In general, top women media executives are promoted based on their performance, whereas men are widely promoted based on their potential and their connections.
Let's look at the facts: About 70 percent of women and 57 percent of men believe that an invisible barrier, the "glass ceiling" (a term coined in 1986 by the Wall Street Journal), prevents women from advancing to top positions in the workplace. That's according to a study by the consulting firm Accenture, which surveyed 1,200 executives in eight countries in 2006.
White men get the lion's share
Study documents lack of diversity on Sunday news shows
Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer, Sunday, May 13, 2007
Here's a silver lining in last month's avalanche of news coverage of Don Imus: The disc jockey's racist and sexist remarks inspired at least one Sunday morning talk show to invite women and people of color to discuss Imus' comments.
Seeing nonwhite men on the Sunday shows is as rare as seeing them on the floor of the U.S. Senate. According to a study to be released Monday by the liberal media organization Media Matters for America, which was obtained by The Chronicle, at least 77 percent of the 2,150 guests who appeared on the four major Sunday shows in 2005-06 were men; at least 82 percent were white.
Stop the Presses, Boys! Women Claim Space on Op-Ed Pages
The New York Times
March 15, 2007
By PATRICIA COHEN
Whatever other reasons may explain the lack of women’s voices on the nation’s op-ed pages, the lack of women asking to be there is clearly part of the problem. Many opinion page editors at major newspapers across the country say that 65 or 75 percent of unsolicited manuscripts, or more, come from men.
The obvious solution, at least to Catherine Orenstein, an author, activist and occasional op-ed page contributor herself, was to get more women to submit essays. To that end Ms. Orenstein has been training women at universities, foundations and corporations to write essays and get them published.