Why Global Women's Issues Should Be in the News

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The Media Can Empower Them - Ahron de Leeuw
The Media Can Empower Them - Ahron de Leeuw
When was the last time you heard about global women's issues in the news? Why is gender equality in the media important?

It may come as no surprise that gender representation in the media is unbalanced. Women's issues, such as reproductive health, violence against women, and gender inequality in the workplace are rarely covered. How would the global community benefit from an increase in media coverage on the issues that women face today?

Facts on Gender Representation in the Media

Gender equality in the media is still a far-off goal. Women as well as news coverage of women's issues remain a small percentage of the total presence of the news. Also, traditional female stereotyping, in which girls and women are often limited by their gender roles, portrayed as vulnerable, or hypersexualized, continues. There has of course been improvements over the past decade, according to media watchdog groups such as the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP). Regardless, gender disparity in the global media remains a major problem.

According to the preliminary findings of GMMP's 2010 report ( an international collective research effort that was conducted on November 10, 2009) on the global media and gender issues:

  • Just under one-fourth of all people that are seen, heard, or read about in the news are female.
  • Only 16 percent of all news stories have a woman or women as the central focus.
  • 4 out of every 5 experts referenced by the media are male.
  • Major global women's issues were reported in news stories — gender-based violence, 1.3 percent ; women's economic participation, .3 percent ; poverty, 1.2 percent ; peace, .9 percent ; and women and political participation, 3.4 percent.
  • Nearly half of all news stories reinforce gender stereotypes, 8 percent challenge them.
  • Women are 5 times more likely to be portrayed in their gender role then men.

Current Global Women's Issues that Should Be in the News

What are the global women's issues that are being underrepresented? Which topics should be present in the media, and therefore present in the minds of global media viewers, listeners, and readers? What does the world need to be aware of in order to improve the conditions of women and girls?

One of the most pressing issues that women face today is violence. According to the World Health Organization, violence against women is a human rights violation. It is rarely spoken of in the news, and perhaps as a reflection, violence against women is often not even reported to authorities, thus remaining a dark social ill, swept beneath the carpet of mankind. Trafficking, child abuse, physical abuse by a family member, and sexual assault are a massive problem that demands much more than 1.3 percent of media coverage in order to be addressed.

Inequality in the work place is another worldwide women's issue. Even in the West, where a progressive society is the assumption, women continue to earn less then men and fill only a small percentage of high management positions. This is despite the fact that women are graduating from college and entering the workforce in equal numbers.

Women's health, reproductive rights, poverty, the environment, education, and representation are all important issues that should be covered to promote gender equality in the news, but more importantly to send the message to everyone tuned into the media that the other half of the world's population does matter and what women have to contribute should be embraced rather than constricted.

Why Is Gender Equality in the Media Important?

Gender equality in the media is important because the information communicated through the television, radio, and newspaper does influence people on a conscious as well as a sub-conscious level. A negative, distorted portrayal does effect the issues that women face because it effects how men perceive women and how women view themselves. Imagine what a positive portrayal and fair representation could do.

This isn't just about women wanting their fair share of attention, money, and power. The need for gender equality is much more serious than that. Like all populations that are discriminated against and treated unfairly, from minority groups to the poor to the LGBT community, equality is about being free to live as a human being, rather than an individual of lesser value.

References:

April 2010 Media & Gender Monitor (Issue no. 21, World Association for Christian Communication)

Hruska, Matej. "EU to consider corporate gender quotas in 2011." (September, 9, 2010, EU Observer).

Media Awareness Network

Brenna Coleman, Brenna Coleman

Brenna Coleman - Brenna is a freelance writer focusing on natural health and beauty. She has written hundreds of articles, helping readers find ways to ...

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Feb 25, 2011 12:29 AM
Guest :
Until women are given the proper respect and place in the world, women's issues need to be addressed. One problem is that to avoid hurting the weak male ego, the real truth is not being told.
In fact, the greatest con job in history has been that of male superiority and that women are the weaker sex. Males are not even anywhere near equal to women let alone superior. Now that women are getting an equal chance at things. they are surpassing males in almost every area. If they did this in one generation, how much further will they leave us males in the next?

The best gift a male can give a woman or girl is to let her know we realize they are the superior gender and we are inferior to them in almost every area. One way to do this is to give them a book called "The Natural Superiority of Women.

I gave this book to my wife when we got married 10 years ago to let her know that I did know she was really the better half of our marriage. She has always shown it and as a male, I have always known it was my privilege to treat her and all women as the superior they are.

We also taught our daughters and our son this fact and even my son pointed out that one problem with that book is that last update was in 1999 and since then there are dozens if not hundreds of other things that prove beyond a doubt that women and even girls are far superior to males

All of nature centers around the female and males just tag along so why not in humans too? Males are only supporting actors and women are the stars of the show. MALES are here to serve women and make their life better.

Mar 5, 2011 1:04 AM
Guest :
"The Natural Superiority of Women" is a good book that shows solid evidence that women are the superior gender. It starts by showing that every human starts out female but it goes on to say that at one certain stage of development something "goes horribly wrong" and some of us (myself included) end up to be male. In short, we males are a mutation of a female. (Seldom is a mutation good)

One comment stated that the last update of this book was in 1999 and since than a lot more has been learned.

Recently there have been several news items regarding this. Some say males will disappear totally. Others say we will still be around but not really needed. Before machines were invented, males were needed for their muscles for physical work. Now that machines can do all of that, males are not needed as much as we once were.

Now there is a book that can fill in that 21 year gap.

"Man Down" by Dan Abrams

Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt That Women Are Better Cops, Drivers, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers, and Just About Everything Else

Someone said that now that women are getting an equal chance, women are surpassing males in almost every area. This is what Abrams said is the reason for this book.

"There’s a lot more evidence now. A lot of the studies from the book are from the last three years. It’s only been in the last twenty or so years, that women have been on a relatively even playing field in terms of work to do many of these studies. We weren’t able to make fair comparisons before, because women were a fraction of the working world. Now we’re see women taking over the majority in many professions. But only recently has there been enough time to look back to compare men versus women and only recently has there been real interest."

Abrams said a vast majority of lead researchers are male, but the broad trend trackers are women. so it may be that males are beginning to wake up and smell the roses that male superiority is history. Actually, males never were superior as women have always been superior to males.

Women have a better sense of smell, taste, and new research is suggesting the fact that women tend to endure pain more makes them more immune to it. It’s the old aphorism, “That which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Women survive injury better than males do and 77% of those who die in traffic accidents are male. Women have 34 more nerve fibers per square centimeter of facial skin, while men have an average of 17. This brings up sexual pleasure. Women have hundreds of times more nerve endings in their vagina than males have in their penis and as a result a male's orgasm pales to a woman's. A woman feels it in all of her body for several moments and it can be repeated many times in a short time. A male's orgasm consists of a few throbs of his penis and it is over in usually much less than a minute. He usually cannot have another one for several hours. Someone said that it is like Niagara Falls for women, a dripping faucet (no pun intended) for males.

Women live an average of five years longer than men. The reasons for this are both genetic and behavior-based. First of all, women have stronger immune systems, again due to estrogen which aids the fight against disease-inducing enzymes. But women are also less likely to engage in risky behavior. Almost all of the Darwin Award winners are male. Usually 9 or more males kill themselves for each woman who does to get this award.

Women make better doctors. While forty percent of doctors are women, 80 percent of those under investigation for medical misconduct or incompetence are male. In the U.S., there were similar findings. Male physicians were twice as likely to be sued as women


He does list things males are better at: Males are better at parking, they’re better dieters, they have better distance vision, and they read maps better. Males do have larger muscles, so they tend to be better at some sports but women far excel males in endurance sports.

A woman's body can more efficiently process oxygen. When it comes to ultra-marathons—say, a 135 mile race without sleep—women can beat men. Remember the first male that ran a marathon died and when we read about someone dying while playing sports or running a race, it is far more likely it will be a male.

When looking at sex change operations, we will notice that a few hundred males want to become women for every woman who wants to become a male. Still these males would not become members of the superior gender as their DNA would still be male thus keeping them inferior to women.

Even in combat, women are better sharp shooters and if the battle of the sexes every turned into a real war, we males would not have a chance. All the males would all be dead while 3/4 or more women remained alive and unharmed.

It is a given that males need women far more than women need males but lets count our lucky stars that most women still want us around.

With Montagu's book, I use to think women had a 80 out of 100 advantage over us males. With his last update in 1999 I raised that to 85 to 100. Now with this new book, it looks like women have a 95 to 100 advantage over males and if it keeps up since women have grown so much in the last 20 to 30 years, soon they will have total advantage over anyone that has the misfortune of being born with testicles. From what I see around me, I too am glad women are the SUPERIOR gender and MALES are the inferior one.
Mar 5, 2011 1:06 AM
Guest :
"The Natural Superiority of Women" is a good book that shows solid evidence that women are the superior gender. It starts by showing that every human starts out female but it goes on to say that at one certain stage of development something "goes horribly wrong" and some of us (myself included) end up to be male. In short, we males are a mutation of a female. (Seldom is a mutation good)

One comment stated that the last update of this book was in 1999 and since than a lot more has been learned.

Recently there have been several news items regarding this. Some say males will disappear totally. Others say we will still be around but not really needed. Before machines were invented, males were needed for their muscles for physical work. Now that machines can do all of that, males are not needed as much as we once were.

Now there is a book that can fill in that 21 year gap.

"Man Down" by Dan Abrams

Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt That Women Are Better Cops, Drivers, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers, and Just About Everything Else

Someone said that now that women are getting an equal chance, women are surpassing males in almost every area. This is what Abrams said is the reason for this book.

"There’s a lot more evidence now. A lot of the studies from the book are from the last three years. It’s only been in the last twenty or so years, that women have been on a relatively even playing field in terms of work to do many of these studies. We weren’t able to make fair comparisons before, because women were a fraction of the working world. Now we’re see women taking over the majority in many professions. But only recently has there been enough time to look back to compare men versus women and only recently has there been real interest."

Abrams said a vast majority of lead researchers are male, but the broad trend trackers are women. so it may be that males are beginning to wake up and smell the roses that male superiority is history. Actually, males never were superior as women have always been superior to males.

Women have a better sense of smell, taste, and new research is suggesting the fact that women tend to endure pain more makes them more immune to it. It’s the old aphorism, “That which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Women survive injury better than males do and 77% of those who die in traffic accidents are male. Women have 34 more nerve fibers per square centimeter of facial skin, while men have an average of 17. This brings up sexual pleasure. Women have hundreds of times more nerve endings in their vagina than males have in their penis and as a result a male's orgasm pales to a woman's. A woman feels it in all of her body for several moments and it can be repeated many times in a short time. A male's orgasm consists of a few throbs of his penis and it is over in usually much less than a minute. He usually cannot have another one for several hours. Someone said that it is like Niagara Falls for women, a dripping faucet (no pun intended) for males.

Women live an average of five years longer than men. The reasons for this are both genetic and behavior-based. First of all, women have stronger immune systems, again due to estrogen which aids the fight against disease-inducing enzymes. But women are also less likely to engage in risky behavior. Almost all of the Darwin Award winners are male. Usually 9 or more males kill themselves for each woman who does to get this award.

Women make better doctors. While forty percent of doctors are women, 80 percent of those under investigation for medical misconduct or incompetence are male. In the U.S., there were similar findings. Male physicians were twice as likely to be sued as women


He does list things males are better at: Males are better at parking, they’re better dieters, they have better distance vision, and they read maps better. Males do have larger muscles, so they tend to be better at some sports but women far excel males in endurance sports.

A woman's body can more efficiently process oxygen. When it comes to ultra-marathons—say, a 135 mile race without sleep—women can beat men. Remember the first male that ran a marathon died and when we read about someone dying while playing sports or running a race, it is far more likely it will be a male.

When looking at sex change operations, we will notice that a few hundred males want to become women for every woman who wants to become a male. Still these males would not become members of the superior gender as their DNA would still be male thus keeping them inferior to women.

Even in combat, women are better sharp shooters and if the battle of the sexes every turned into a real war, we males would not have a chance. All the males would all be dead while 3/4 or more women remained alive and unharmed.

It is a given that males need women far more than women need males but lets count our lucky stars that most women still want us around.

With Montagu's book, I use to think women had a 80 out of 100 advantage over us males. With his last update in 1999 I raised that to 85 to 100. Now with this new book, it looks like women have a 95 to 100 advantage over males and if it keeps up since women have grown so much in the last 20 to 30 years, soon they will have total advantage over anyone that has the misfortune of being born with testicles. From what I see around me, I too am glad women are the SUPERIOR gender and MALES are the inferior one.
Apr 30, 2011 1:21 AM
Guest :
Women's issues need to be in the news because the deadliest thing on Earth is the human male but although males usually only kill other males, far too often women are killed in too.

Women should never be killed in wars or any other conflict. Mexico's drug gangs have killed over 32,000 and most of them were males which is fine with me but lately they have been killing women too and that is not fine. Human MALES are the deadliest thing on Earth but human women and girls are the most precious resource we have. We would not misuse gold or other expensive things so we need to realize women are worth more than anything we have including human males so why not protect them? Yes I did saw women are worth more than males because males are more expendable as a whole (although no individual is expendable) and we need to realize that the view that males are superior has been a con job since the beginning of history. There is far too much evidence that women are far superior to males and males are the inferior gender. We can see this now that women are getting an equal chance; they are surpassing males in almost every area. Women are showing that they can do almost everything males can do and they can do it faster and better.
If we had it on a scale of 100, women would rate at least 80 to 85 while males would of course get the rest. Half of the 10 to 15% that males are superior at are not good things. Maybe this is why some researchers have pointed out that we all start out as females but early in development something goes "horribly wrong" and some are born with testicles. My wife said that if she woke up and found she had testicles swinging between her legs, she would want to get them removed as soon as possible (but maybe not before she got "kicked in the balls or had the nuts crushed" to see if it hurts as much we males make it out to be. (I could tell her it does because of the times she got too rough with mine)

Yes males are the deadliest weapon on Earth but for some strange reason, we still want them around.
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