#jf573

The solution to this problem is simply to have more women portrayed in media. Women make up about 50% of the population; it makes no sense that most stories focus on men’s experiences. I can think of many examples where almost the entire cast were men where the film was critically acclaimed. In comparison, it’s difficult to find the same for women. Numbers are certainly not enough, but evening out the representation of men and women in media would definitely be a good start. 

I was lucky to get the chance to meet Pam Fessler during the luncheon the day before the plenary. I found her to be really interesting because she has had such cool experiences as a journalist. The media is a really important force in defining society and culture, for better or worse, and it is good to meet someone in the industry who is thoughtful about the subjects she writes about. The news industry ranges from pretentious to outrageous to sensationalist. It is difficult for them to find a good compromise with being appealing to the general reader and still have good, unbiased, important news. I liked hearing her thoughts of the news industry.

For women, it is often difficult and stressful to be the only woman in the meeting room, or the only woman on the team. In my first internship, I was the only woman on the team. In fact, I was the first woman to ever work on that team. In my second internship, there were two other women on my team, around 10 men. I really appreciated having those two women on the team as my mentors because they have a perspective that men do not have. In general men who are dominant, aggressive, and blunt are respected as being ambitious and leaders, while women who are the same are seen as bitches. I recently saw an article rewriting some famous quotes if they had been said by women in a meeting. Although of course not all women state their opinions apologetically, it is far more common for a woman to than a man. This is not because women are inherently more demure than men, but because societal pressures change them to be this way to be more acceptable. I am very impressed that Wendy Cai-Lee is so successful in different ways. Still, as some people in class who had lunch with her said, she had to be careful when spending time with her male coworkers. When they went out to drink, she would not, because it is fine for men to make a mistake in that setting, but if women do, it would ruin her reputation forever. I am disappointed that even today when so many people believe the feminist movement is unnecessary, that men and women are held to different standards.

One thing of note was that they do not send help to the United States, though women there can still access the information that is available on their website. The reason for this is that in the United States, women technically have access to safe and legal abortion. Though the United States as a whole is more progressive than many countries on that front, individual states have a lot of power over the choices and lives of women. Why should this be the case? From Miss Representation, I learned that only about 15% of politicians are women. How can we allow men, who have never and will never have to go through the agonizing decision of whether to abort, make decisions for women? When women are forced to carry through a pregnancy, this will affect their lives and the lives of their families. They may not be able to afford food or rent. The women may not be able to continue her studies. She may die from an illegal, misinformed abortion, or from childbirth. When men say that women must continue a pregnancy no matter the circumstance, they are saying that women’s choices do not matter, that women’s value lies in bearing children. As one woman wrote to Rebecca Gomberts said, “It’s magnificent what you’re doing, to help women realize their dreams for themselves.”