Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Male Domination Rules in U.S., And on Sunday Morning Political Shows Too

Is it still the 1950s? Women's political representation in this so-called democracy is even worse on television than in the halls of Congress. One hundred and forty-eight congressional lawmakers were interviewed on the Sunday morning shows this year, and 20 of them were women!

Oh, but women must be to blame for this, says the media. Probably it's Nancy Pelosi's fault. And anyway, didn't somebody already dub this the Year of the Woman?:

There aren’t a lot of people calling us to do Sunday shows,” said a prominent female House member’s press secretary, who did not want to be identified. “They largely go back to the same people, week after week. They’ve done a poor job of tapping into prominent female leaders, and that’s not just a problem for women on the Hill; it’s a problem for Americans because they are rarely hearing the women’s perspective.”

From Jan. 1 to June 13, “Meet the Press” featured only three female members of Congress, compared with 28 male lawmakers. “Fox News Sunday” had only two female lawmakers but 28 male lawmakers. CBS’s “Face the Nation” hosted the highest number of female lawmakers — six, compared with 24 male lawmakers. CNN’s “State of the Union” was not far behind, with six women and 29 men. ABC’s “This Week” had three female members and 19 males.