In this blog, I want to talk about the underrepresentation of women in the news and in the media and why it is important that we have more women in the news.
Every night, millions of people tune into the news to see what's going in the world that they live in. The news is perhaps one of the most important and fundamental things in this country, keeping our citizens alert and our government in check. The freedom of the press is one of the things that makes America so special and so amazing, separating it from many countries. Because of the powerful position the news networks are in, it is of upmost importance that they actually give you all the complexities of a story and show all the different sides to it, something that is impossible to do if you have only men in a newsroom.
There is absolutely something to be said for women in the news and what value they bring to the table. Because 51% of the US population is female, looking at a news story through the lens of a women is important to making sure that the news story truly can resonate with all people. Furthermore, not including women in the media alienates the female population, disconnecting them from the news. People tend to gravitate towards people that are like them in gender, ethnicity, etc, so in order to make sure that the female population stays connected to the all important media, there needs to be more female hosts and icons.
It should also be noted that an unequal representation of women on TV has effects on us as a society. As we see more and more men on TV, you are implicitly saying that men are better than women, a message that is sent to children around the country. If you go telling todays children that women cannot achieve as much and be as good as men, you are preventing them from reaching their goals and gaining positions in government and other important institutions. From that generation, more of these implicit messages are sent and the cycle continues. It is a cycle of positive feedback that never ends unless we put a stop to it now.
In all, seeing news through the eyes of women is important to reaching the female audience and an unequal representation of women in the media, news included, leads to more men in power and reinforces the idea that men are superior to women.
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ReplyDeleteI completely agree and also think that with the messages being brought upon by media we are depriving women of power and making our society seem male dominated. I think however women are gaining power in our society but it is a very slow progress and I believe that the main source through which we can have an influence is through our media given how reliant and intrigued by it we are today. I think government check should come after the matter to enforce and restrict further bad exposition on television.
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