The Women’s Media Center: The Status of Women in the U.S. Media 2012
The Women’s Media Center – founded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem – has the goal of making women visible and powerful in media.
Media influence is one of the most powerful economic and cultural forces today. By deciding who gets to talk, what shapes the debate, who writes, and what is important enough to report, media shape our understanding of who we are and what we can be.
The problem is that we only rarely use half of our talent and usually hear half of the story.
This report shines a light on the status of women in media and underscores the crucial need to hold media accountable for an equal voice and equal participation.
Introduction and Methods
This report summarizes the most recent available statistical data on:
- Representation of women in media occupations associated with determining content of news
- Representation of women in media occupations associated with determining content of television and film entertainment
- Gender equity in literature reviews
- How women are depicted on entertainment television and film
A brief discussion of the implications of gender inequity in media follows the data summaries.
Data were compiled from several leading sources of statistical and analytic data on women in the media and from recent research articles on media gender inequity. The report is intended to provide a broad overview of the status of women in the U.S. media at the beginning of 2012.
