In media reports on women’s issues—abortion, birth control, Planned Parenthood—men are quoted around five times more than women, a new study shows.
Among 35 major national print publications, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, men had 81 percent of the quotes in stories about abortion, the research group said Thursday, while women had 12 percent, and organizations had 7 percent.
In stories about birth control, men scored 75 percent of the quotes, with women getting 19 percent and organizations getting 6 percent. Stories about Planned Parenthood had a similar ratio, with men getting 67 percent, women getting 26 percent, and organizations getting 7 percent.
Women fared a bit better in stories about women’s rights, getting 31 percent of the quotes compared with 52 percent for men and 17 percent for organizations.
From here at The Daily Beast. And my god, even on women’s rights men get quoted more than women.
This is so depressing.
Wow, even as cynical and bitter as I can be on such issues…wow. I am surprised and disappointed.
Gah, splutter, splutter.
[…] Blue Milk, the astonishing statistic that even on issues relating to women, such as abortion, and […]
[…] Blue Milk, the astonishing statistic that even on issues relating to women, such as abortion, and […]
16 feb 2012 a congressional panel testified to congress about women’s health issues, specifically the birth control mandate. It was chaired by Darrell Issa and consisted of 8 more men. It didn’t go without notice, but it was too late.
It begs the question, how can that even happen. When getting that panel together, how can NO ONE (in a position to decide) have thought that perhaps some women should be on it?
A bishop, a rabbi, and a reverend walk into Congress…and the women Democrates walk out. Issa is a Republican, so there’s the first problem. The rest of it comes down to speculation. I tend to the theory that women’s voices are inaudible to men in power and thus irrelivant to them as well. Issa defended himself for excluding the only witness, a woman, a female 3rd year law student, from testifying because the hearing was about Administrative actions not reproductive rights. Clear as mud, Mr. Issa. (jerk)
Well colour me surprised. It’s very similar to my normal colour but with more deadpan eyes.
Here’s an info graphic of the stats in case anyone is interested http://www.4thestate.net/female-voices-in-media-infographic/#.T8hSU78YRGT
If most of the quotes came from politicians, because they were talking about politics, then it isn’t surprising, because women are underrepresented in politics.
The infographic linked by Lisa is actually quite explicit that most politicians are excluded from the count, Laura, so that dog won’t hunt. The study is specifically about the media’s election coverage, and in order to distinguish signal from noise, statements from candidates are not counted. I’m not sure whether that means that they do allow statements from Senators who are not up for re-election until 2016 to be tallied, or whether they’ve lumped them in with the rest of the politicians.
[…] found to be quoted five times more than women in articles on women’s issues? (I posted it here). It’s gob-smacking. There’s a temptation, again, to say that the problem is just about […]
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[…] are quoted around five times more than women in media coverage about women’s […]
[…] *Oh, by the way, if you have a question about women or girls? Ask a man! “In media reports on women’s issues—abortion, birth control, Planned Parenthood—men are quoted around five times more than women, a new study shows.” Via BlueMilk […]
[…] I was directed to this article yesterday by the awesome, ever-on-to-it Aussie feminist mum, Blue Milk. It reports on the fact that in US election coverage over the past six months men have been […]
[…] Men are quoted around five times more than women.. on women’s issues – Blue Milk […]