TODAY'S SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, AUG. 23
Breakfast
9:30AM-10:45AM
Breakout Sessions
9:30AM-10:45AM
Breakout Sessions
11:00AM-12:15AM
Lunch Plenary
12:30PM-2:00PM
Breakout Sessions
2:15PM-3:30PM
Closing Session
3:45PM-5:15PM
Authors' Café
3:45PM-5:45PM
Not-So-Silent Auction
6:45PM-8:45PM
View the full schedule here
TODAY'S WEATHER
WHAT IS NLGJA?
Find out more about NLGJA at the official website.
SPONSORS
Thanks to the sponsors of this year's student projects:
MENTORS
A big thanks to our mentors:Brett Zongker
The Associated Press
Caroline K. Hauser
The Washington Post
Mark S. Luckie
Entertainment Weekly
Larry M. Shaw
ABC
Dennis M. Powell
ABC
Doug Mitchell
NPR
Politicians see sexism's role in trivial coverage
by Oscar Raymundo
The terms used in the media today to describe visible women in politics haven't changed much since Glenn Close's "Fatal Attraction," a 1987 movie used in a reference to Hillary Clinton in the presidential primaries.
"A Woman's Place," Friday's luncheon plenary at NLGJA's 2008 convention, aimed to address the ill treatment of powerful women in the mainstream media and how that might be responsible for cementing the glass ceiling.
U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton; Maryland State Delegate Heather Mizeur; D.C. council member-at-large Carol Schwartz; and Cambridge, Mass., Mayor E. Denise Simmons spoke for an hour and a half to more than 100 attendees about their experiences in the public life and in the media.
Moderator Julie Bolcer, news editor of Go! magazine, began with some stark statistics. According to a poll by the Center for American Women in Politics, women make up 16 percent of Congress, and as of February 2008, 15.7 percent of U.S. mayors were women.
Globally, the U.S. places 72nd in the number of women elected in government.
Media coverage of Hillary Clinton's campaign kept resurfacing during the plenary. Norton, who will join Clinton in Denver on Tuesday to speak at the Democratic National Convention, called media treatment offensive and derogatory in terms of Clinton's gender and a clear example that "we still have no holds barred, particularly in the media."
Mizeur, a superdelegate also traveling to Denver next week, empathized with Clinton's experience of media coverage of her tearing up during the primary. Mizeur said a journalist mischaracterized her as fighting back tears during an important meeting when in reality she was dealing with allergies.
"But apparently dykes don't cry either, so I don't know how that got through," Mizeur said jokingly.
The panel also zeroed in on how journalists can focus on the trivial when covering women politicians. When Mizeur gave a news conference on a nanotechnology bill she had written, a press corps of white male reporters, and even a few of her colleagues, were shocked that she had such a clear understanding of the issue.
"When a woman walks to the podium, trust that we know what the hell we're talking about." Mizeur said.
Simmons, the first openly lesbian African-American mayor in the U.S., said she received her most press when she ended her long-term relationship with her partner. Schwartz got more attention for her wardrobe choices than for her political ones.
"When I first started in 1974, I had a lot of personality and that made me 'not smart,'" Schwartz said. "I began to dress well, and some reporters started labeling me as a 'fashionista.'"
Norton said the superficial media coverage might not even matter, noting that Schwartz, a Republican, was re-elected candidate in a city that's 90 percent Democrat.
The panel addressed the mommy track and that being a parenting politician was not such a big struggle as much as being pigeonholed into a specific role because of either race or gender.
"I always get asked, 'How does it feel to be lesbian, African-American and mayor?'" Simmons said. "Well, I don't slice myself up into three people. I don't separate those identities out, so when I walk into a room, I bring all of that with me."
All of the women have noticed a different treatment in the media than their male colleagues, particularly when it comes to appearance.
"If you're going to talk about me being overweight, talk about them being overweight," Schwartz said. "If you're going to talk about me being old, talk about them being old."
Mainstream media is not the only dispenser of sexism, Mizeur notes. The Internet has accentuated discrimination, especially in blogs and social networks, she said.
"On Facebook, there's a group with 10,000 members named 'Hillary Clinton Stop Running for President and Go Make Me a Sandwich,'" she said.
Mizuer said media are not entirely to blame. They're just a reflection of the conversations that are happening all across the country.
Norton acknowledged that the trivial ways media focus on powerful women might also in part reflect the way that women see one another.
"It's going to take a long time for the men in the press to stop talking about the way we dress if we keep talking about it," she said.
The terms used in the media today to describe visible women in politics haven't changed much since Glenn Close's "Fatal Attraction," a 1987 movie used in a reference to Hillary Clinton in the presidential primaries.
"A Woman's Place," Friday's luncheon plenary at NLGJA's 2008 convention, aimed to address the ill treatment of powerful women in the mainstream media and how that might be responsible for cementing the glass ceiling.
U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton; Maryland State Delegate Heather Mizeur; D.C. council member-at-large Carol Schwartz; and Cambridge, Mass., Mayor E. Denise Simmons spoke for an hour and a half to more than 100 attendees about their experiences in the public life and in the media.
Moderator Julie Bolcer, news editor of Go! magazine, began with some stark statistics. According to a poll by the Center for American Women in Politics, women make up 16 percent of Congress, and as of February 2008, 15.7 percent of U.S. mayors were women.
Globally, the U.S. places 72nd in the number of women elected in government.
Media coverage of Hillary Clinton's campaign kept resurfacing during the plenary. Norton, who will join Clinton in Denver on Tuesday to speak at the Democratic National Convention, called media treatment offensive and derogatory in terms of Clinton's gender and a clear example that "we still have no holds barred, particularly in the media."
Mizeur, a superdelegate also traveling to Denver next week, empathized with Clinton's experience of media coverage of her tearing up during the primary. Mizeur said a journalist mischaracterized her as fighting back tears during an important meeting when in reality she was dealing with allergies.
"But apparently dykes don't cry either, so I don't know how that got through," Mizeur said jokingly.
The panel also zeroed in on how journalists can focus on the trivial when covering women politicians. When Mizeur gave a news conference on a nanotechnology bill she had written, a press corps of white male reporters, and even a few of her colleagues, were shocked that she had such a clear understanding of the issue.
"When a woman walks to the podium, trust that we know what the hell we're talking about." Mizeur said.
Simmons, the first openly lesbian African-American mayor in the U.S., said she received her most press when she ended her long-term relationship with her partner. Schwartz got more attention for her wardrobe choices than for her political ones.
"When I first started in 1974, I had a lot of personality and that made me 'not smart,'" Schwartz said. "I began to dress well, and some reporters started labeling me as a 'fashionista.'"
Norton said the superficial media coverage might not even matter, noting that Schwartz, a Republican, was re-elected candidate in a city that's 90 percent Democrat.
The panel addressed the mommy track and that being a parenting politician was not such a big struggle as much as being pigeonholed into a specific role because of either race or gender.
"I always get asked, 'How does it feel to be lesbian, African-American and mayor?'" Simmons said. "Well, I don't slice myself up into three people. I don't separate those identities out, so when I walk into a room, I bring all of that with me."
All of the women have noticed a different treatment in the media than their male colleagues, particularly when it comes to appearance.
"If you're going to talk about me being overweight, talk about them being overweight," Schwartz said. "If you're going to talk about me being old, talk about them being old."
Mainstream media is not the only dispenser of sexism, Mizeur notes. The Internet has accentuated discrimination, especially in blogs and social networks, she said.
"On Facebook, there's a group with 10,000 members named 'Hillary Clinton Stop Running for President and Go Make Me a Sandwich,'" she said.
Mizuer said media are not entirely to blame. They're just a reflection of the conversations that are happening all across the country.
Norton acknowledged that the trivial ways media focus on powerful women might also in part reflect the way that women see one another.
"It's going to take a long time for the men in the press to stop talking about the way we dress if we keep talking about it," she said.
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