Status of Women 2007 Abstracts
Commission on the Status of Women
Gender during the presidential honeymoon: An analysis of news coverage and its effects • Ingrid Bachmann, University of Texas at Austin • Women are not only running for president in many countries — they are winning. Yet, little is know about how the news media portray the first months in office when the president is a woman. That is the focus of this study, a content analysis of newspaper coverage of the honeymoon period of the new female president of Chile. The results suggest gender-biased news coverage of the president and her suitability to do the job.
Malingering Images of Women: Feminine Stereotypes in Television Advertising • Stephen Banning and Vaishali Shrikande, Bradley University • This study examined the portrayal of women in television commercials and documented the stereotypes associated with women in today’s television commercials. Advertisements were recorded from the networks ABC, CBS and NBC. Each advertisement was initially coded as to whether the central figure was a male or a female. In addition, each central figure in the advertisement was coded according to age, product use, occupation, voiceover, product representative, stance, and product types.
Good sports? A feminist framing analysis of public relations strategies in the Duke University lacrosse crisis • Barbara Barnett, Kansas University • In Spring 2006, three white Duke University lacrosse players were charged with raping a black female student from nearby North Carolina Central University, prompting a massive public relations campaign by Duke to repair and restore its image. In responding to the crisis, the university framed itself as a voice of reason, suffering because of attacks on its reputation. Although the crisis dealt with rape charges, Duke officials spent little time actually discussing rape.
Women’s Lib, Women Reporters, and Presidents’ Wives • Lisa Burns, Quinnipiac University • This essay examines how feminist ideals influenced the framing of first lady press coverage from 1964 – 1980, arguing that this coverage served as a site where questions about women’s changing roles could be raised and the tenets of the women’s liberation movement could be presented and promoted by women reporters. The result was the positioning of Johnson, Ford, and Carter as “liberated women,” while Nixon embodied the “feminine mystique” that the movement was rallying against.
Women’s Participation in Media Leadership in the Changing Media Environment in China • Chunying Cai, University of Maryland • Starting from a 1994 UNESCO survey of women journalists in China, which reported that women had difficulties in entering high-level decision-making positions in the media, the paper investigates whether the transformation of the Chinese media industry over the decade has changed the situation of women’s participation in leadership in the media.
Gender and the Attributes for Career Success in the Media Professions • Roger Cooper, Ohio University • This study, developed through established theoretical foundations in psychology and vocational choice, explores the role of gender in assessments of which attributes are most important for career success in the media industries. Forty-two attributes were assessed by current media professionals (N=1,122). t tests revealed significant differences between women and men on 17 of the 42 attributes measured.
Pioneer for Women Journalists: Katherine Conway and the Boston Pilot, 1883-1908 • Lucinda Davenport, Michigan State University; Denyse Smith • In 1870, there was a recorded 35 women journalists; Katherine Conway was one of them. By 1900, there were almost 2,000 women in journalism; and by then, Katherine Conway had almost single-handedly been publishing the Boston Pilot for a decade. Conway used her journalistic talents to advocate women’s vocations as wife and mother, while she was a single, career-woman. Her life was a paradox.
The Radical Act of Mommy Blogging: Redefining Motherhood Through the Blogosphere • Lori DesRochers, Indiana University • This paper provides an alternative to the masculine construction of the blogosphere by analyzing “mommy bloggers” through the lenses of feminism, autobiography, and political-economy. In qualitatively examining the blogs themselves and the media discourse surrounding them, the paper ultimately argues for their potential to build community and to challenge dominant representations of motherhood in the blogosphere and the mainstream media.
Gender’s role in perceptions of persuasiveness and quality of sports columns: An experimental study • Ada Diaconu-Muresan, Christopher Murray and Joshua Padilla; University of Nevada-Reno; Jennifer Greer; University of Alabama and Marie Hardin; Penn State • To examine whether female sports journalists still suffer from a lack of credibility among readers, an experimental study tested quality and persuasiveness of a column, manipulating author’s gender. Although the male and female columnists were rated equally when writing about women’s sports, gender stereotypes emerged for ratings of the columns about men’s sports. Women rated the work of the male columnist as significantly higher in quality and persuasiveness than the work of the female writer.
“Tale of Two Voices”: Women Communicators From Mississippi Freedom Summer & A New Black Feminist Concept • Brenda Edgerton-Webster, Mississippi State University • This study developed and employed a new concept of Black Feminism to examine women’s communication efforts in Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964. The oral histories of these women participants contribute omitted “voices” to journalism, civil rights, and women’s history. This study discovered generational differences of how the Movement shaped their worldviews and subsequent vocations. The rationale for this phenomena explain, in part, the omission of women from the historical “image” of the black civil rights leader.
Measuring a Woman’s Worth: Femininity and the Disciplined Body in FitTV’s “Buff Brides” • Erika Engstrom, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • The author examines the meanings of femininity contained in the fitness reality program “Buff Brides,” which ties physical fitness with the world of weddings. Women’s bodies, already subjected to hegemonic ideals, become even more scrutinized when taking on the role of bride. A textual analysis revealed recurrent themes such as bodily disapproval, food as enemy, and additional stress of wedding planning. Implications of this program in terms of mass media portrayals of femininity are discussed.
Under the Knife: How Women Perceive Cosmetic Surgery Reality Television • J. Robyn Goodman, University of Florida • This paper explores college women’s perceptions of cosmetic surgery reality television (CSRT) by conducting focus groups with low, moderate, and high CSRT viewers. Results found that the women largely saw CSRT as unrealistic because of the number of surgeries, the final outcome, and presenting surgery as a quick fix. However, the women found pleasure in the emotional aspects to the stories and the fantasy of transformation.
Maybe it’s not a “generational thing”: The values and beliefs of aspiring sports journalists in relationship to race and gender • Marie Hardin and Erin Whiteside, Penn State University • The assumption held by journalists and women’s sports advocates that the post -Title IX generation will produce journalists who will usher in more egalitarian coverage of female athletes is explored through focus groups with high school sports journalists. Participants articulated a narrow definition of sport that preserves white, male hegemony.
Sexual objectification, sports programming and music television: Frequency of viewing and support for sexually objectifying others • Stacey J.T. Hust and Ming Lei, Washington State University • A survey of 934 college students found that individuals who regularly watched sports programs and music television supported the sexual objectification of women. Males who regularly watched sports programming did not support sexually objectifying men, yet females who watched sports regularly did endorse the sexual objectification of men. Thus, both young women and men who watch sports and music television may be learning that sexual objectification is an acceptable way to view others.
First Lady Political Candidates in Semi and a Full Democracy: A Comparative Media Framing Rhetorical Analysis • Yusuf Kalyango, Jr. and Betty Winfield, University of Missouri – Columbia • This study examined how the news print media rhetorically frame two different political electoral campaigns of the First Ladies: Janet Museveni running for Parliament of Uganda in 2006 and Hillary Clinton running for the U.S. Senate in 2000. The purpose was to assess whether there are patriarchal journalistic norms across cultures in media framing by comparing the political campaign coverage of these two first ladies.
Teenage Beauty & Fashion Magazines: Selling Sexuality and Consumerism to Our Kids? • Camille Kraeplin, Southern Methodist University • This study reaffirmed the idea that teen magazines appear to place a great deal of emphasis on beauty and beauty products. Some 62 percent of the stories appearing in the women’s books and 46 percent in the teen books promoted beauty or beauty services. At least a third of the advertising items did as well.
When a Newswoman Becomes the News: A Case Study of Media Representations of Ann Curry • Hillary Lake, University of Oregon • Recent media attention on the gender of network evening news anchors emphasizes that equality is still an issue for women (and other minorities). Yet, media representations of newswomen have rarely been examined in light of their marginalized status, and increased cultural emphasis on public image.
Feminist Historiography in the Field: Writing New Histories • Lana Rakow, University of North Dakota • What is feminist history in the field of communication? This work addresses the challenges of countering standard histories in which both women and the work of feminist scholars are absent because of an emphasis in media history on “great men,” “great ideas,” and “great places.” Feminist scholars in six communication-related organizations were asked for their recollections of key works, key scholars, and key trends in feminist communication scholarship.
Katie Couric: Liberal and radical feminist perspectives of press coverage themes • Amanda Scheiner, Temple University • This study finds two themes throughout press coverage from The New York Times and The Washington Post of Katie Couric becoming the first female solo anchor. The initial foregrounds Couric as female, while the second theme is a discourse of praise concealing a subtext of doubt. A liberal feminist perspective notes the historic importance of Couric’s new position, while a radical feminist perspective complicates this analysis, noting Couric affirms the dominant cultural paradigmatic ideals.
Seeking the Online Stranger: The Double-Edge of Contemporary Motherhood • Felicia Song, Louisiana State University • The state of contemporary motherhood has been the focus of much scholarly attention as informal systems of kin care have increasingly become fragmented and uncertain. This paper is a preliminary exploration of how contemporary mothers use the Internet to communicate and gather information about childrearing. Drawing on Georg Simmel’s work on social distance, I argue that rationalization has become embedded in the relationships contemporary mothers have with their online networks of care and support.
How Women Make Meaning of Shared Involvement in News about Bioterrorism • Jennifer Vardeman and Linda Aldoory, University of Maryland • We conducted 23 in-depth interviews with women to explore how they made meaning of bioterrorism in news and perceived shared involvement with a news spokesperson. In general, the participants made meaning of bioterrorism in the news by negotiating their perceived susceptibility to risk; and they contextualized bioterrorism within their everyday lived experiences as caregivers and as potential victims of risk. However, some of the participants distrusted the media environment and organizational alliances of spokespeople.
Associated Press Reporter Bess Furman and Four Years of Access to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt • Liz Watts, Texas Tech University • Eleanor Roosevelt influenced AP Washington bureau reporter Bess Furman’s work and personal life. Mrs. Roosevelt granted access through her press conferences and friendship. Furman enjoyed and appreciated both. Under Mrs. Roosevelt’s tutelage, Furman learned a great deal about social conditions and reform policies, and gradually, this would raise her prominence and success as a reporter. As she began reporting on Mrs. Roosevelt, she dropped society stories, and she reported about Mrs. Roosevelt’s interests.
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