Status of Women 2006 Abstracts
Commission on the Status of Women
In the classroom but not the newsroom: A qualitative examination of why women leave journalism jobs • Tracy Everbach, University of North Texas and Craig Flournoy, Southern Methodist University • This study employed in-depth interviews to determine why many female graduates of college journalism and mass communication programs decide to leave newsroom jobs. Research revealed female graduates had high expectations for journalism jobs but become disillusioned by sex discrimination. Reasons for leaving included unequal pay, lack of job flexibility, absence of mentoring and emphasis on male news values. The study recommends actions for journalism organizations and journalism educators to retain women in newsroom jobs.
Choice or Chance? Gender, Victimization and Culpability in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation • Katie Foss, University of Minnesota • This research explored gender and culpability in crime victim representations through a discourse analysis of anonymous victimizations in five seasons of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Findings indicate a vast discrepancy between male and female victimizations in that men become victims by chance, whereas carelessness and sexuality cause women to be victimized. Furthermore, female victims often suffer sexual assault prior to death. These results reinforce existing rape myths and suggest ideological support for a patriarchal society.
Is There Method to the Madness? Worldwide Press Coverage of Female Terrorists and Journalistic Attempts to Rationalize Their Involvement • Elizabeth Gardner, University of Texas at Austin • This study examined worldwide media representations of female terrorists, specifically focusing on journalistic explanations for their involvement in terrorism. Content analysis of 214 news articles revealed that rationalizations are found in one third of all articles and vary from nationalism to revenge. Journalists themselves are the leading source for these explanations; a disparity between motives given by the female terrorists and by journalists suggests that the media’s portrayal of female terrorists is a misrepresentation of reality.
The Global, the Local and Gender in the News: An Institutional Analysis of the Inter Press Service • Margaretha Geertsema, Butler University • This paper investigates the gender-mainstreaming project of the alternative global news agency Inter Press Service within the frameworks of globalization and feminism. IPS has consciously worked to address gender issues since 1975, with a major project implemented from 1994-1999. This analysis of institutional materials reveals the IPS gender policy reflects cultural hybridization through its focus on the human rights of women within local contexts, as well as its endorsement of Third World Feminism.
“I may decide it’s not worth it to balance it all”: The experiences and values of young women in sports journalism careers • Marie Hardin, Penn State University and Stacie Shain, Independent Researcher and Kelly Shultz, Penn State University • In the first part of a longitudinal study to explore the factors that impact career longevity of women in sports journalism, women who have worked in the field for less than two years were interviewed about barriers and opportunities in regard to their career success. Three general themes emerged during the interviews: 1. Being a woman is not a barrier but is instead an (unfair) advantage; 2. The world of sports is a man’s world.
Spaces for Feminist (Re)articulations: The Internet, Newspapers, and the Gang Rape of “Jane Doe” • Dustin Harp, University of Texas at Austin • Feminist (re)articulations of rape counter hegemonic conceptualizations about the crime. This research examines how journalists covered a gang rape and how an online community participated in a broader discursive construction of the crime and rape issues in general. Through an analysis of the local mainstream daily newspaper, alternative weekly, online chatrooms, and blogs, the study illustrates ways feminist and dominant understandings of rape are negotiated in an expanding discursive public space.
Women in the Blogosphere: Access, Practices, and Gender Politics • Dustin Harp, University of Texas at Austin and Sandra L. Nichols, Towson University and Mark Tremayne, University of Texas at Austin and Tina Castronovo, Towson University • Using ethnographic content analysis this paper presents a case study of BlogHer, an organization and accompanying website that serves as a bridge between the virtual world and the real world to offer women a location for improving access to and articulating gender discrimination in the Blogosphere as well as strategizing solutions. We describe the locations of interaction on BlogHer and analyze how they work together to create a subaltern public sphere.
Jane Grant in Full Bloom • Susan Henry, California State University • When she divorced Harold Ross in 1929, it appeared that Jane Grant’s involvement in The New Yorker, which she helped him found, would end. Yet during World War II she spearheaded the creation of a highly (and unexpectedly) successful edition for soldiers overseas. Afterward, in the anti-feminist 1950s, she revived the Lucy Stone League and energetically led its fight for women’s rights.
Prominence of Men and Women in Newspaper Sports Coverage as an Indicator of Gender Equality Pre- and Post-Title IX • Kent Kaiser and Erik Skoglund, University of Minnesota • This paper investigates this question: Did the prominence of women’s newspaper sports coverage increase after passage and implementation of Title IX, consistent with the expectation that greater equality in athletics would lead to greater prominence in coverage? The paper applies a content analytical method to the Star Tribune of Minneapolis and the St. Paul Pioneer Press from 1940 to 2005 and finds that traditional frames of inequality have persisted and possibly strengthened.
Egyptian Television Advertising Portrayals of Women: A Content Analysis and Discussion • Kevin L. Keenan and Mireille Ishak, The American University in Cairo • Issues related to gender portrayals in advertising are discussed and a content analysis of 508 television commercials from Egyptian Channel 1 is described. Variables include voiceover gender, character age, product type, credibility basis, setting, presence of children, and character subservience. Findings show evidence of gender stereotyping and are compared to studies in the U.S. and other countries. Interpretations are offered and suggestions for future research are raised.
Gender Politics and Morning Television: A Discourse Analysis of the Media-Constructed ‘Duel’ between Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer • Hillary Lake, University of Oregon • This study examines print coverage of the ratings war between Katie Couric, of NBC’s “Today” show, and Diane Sawyer, of ABC’s “Good Morning America”. Drawing on feminist political economic theory, this study uses discourse analysis to demonstrate how coverage of Couric and Sawyer reinforces stereotypical ideologies about women in powerful positions.
More Than a “Bunch of Girls” and a “Tea Party”: Public Relations Empowers a State Commission for Women • Cathy Rogers, Loyola University • This case study examines the role of public relations in the success of the Louisiana Women’s Policy and Research Commission and to show how the group served as an advocate for change for women in Louisiana. This analysis of the reestablishment of the Commission and its communications strategies at the beginning of the 215t century provides insight about a dynamic political force in the movement to establish equality for women in Louisiana.
Introducing Women to the Internet: Digital Discourse in Women’s Media • Cindy Royal, Virginia Commonwealth University • Over the past decade, the number of women using the Internet has increased from a quiet minority to an equally represented demographic. But before the mid- 1990s, the Internet was characterized as a primarily white, male domain, used by those in privileged positions in academia, government, and the military. Arguably, these origins have shaped the way Internet technology has been viewed and accepted by society.
Madam or Mr. President? Press coverage and public perceptions when a woman leads in a presidential election: The case of Chile • Sebastian Valenzuela and Teresa Correa, University of Texas at Austin • Women are succeeding in presidential races all over the world. This study examined differences in news coverage of Chile’s first female president Michelle Bachelet and her male contenders in the 2005 elections and the impact of these differences on voters’ perceptions. Using a content analysis of three newspapers, a secondary analysis of a survey and agenda setting as a framework the findings show striking differences in coverage and suggest that the press influenced public perceptions.
A lightning rod in sport: The reproduction of patriarchal ideology in Title IX discourse • Erin Whiteside, Penn State University • This paper explores assumptions about the relationship between sport and gender and what happens when patriarchal ideology is contested. By examining op-ed articles on Title IX, a law that has tremendously changed the opportunity for girls and women to participate in sport over the last 30 years, this textual analysis reveals discourse that reinforces sport’s patriarchal ideology and marginalizes girls and women from this cultural activity.
Framing the First Ladies: Media Coverage of the Candidates’ Wives During the 2004 Presidential Elections • Geri Alumit Zeldes, Michigan State University • This paper extends a study that examined media coverage of the candidates’ wives during the 2000 presidential campaign’ by examining the 2004 presidential election. Like the 2000 study, the “escort” role was the dominant frame. Coverage of the prospective First and Second Ladies did not fulfill the other established frames of “noblesse-oblige,” “policy adviser,” and “protocol style-setter.
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