“I can attest that media regards women in leadership with some mixture of awe and confusion. I am alternatively referred to as either the ‘Iron Lady of Liberia,’ or ‘Ma Sirleaf.’ Perhaps this shows the dual nature of women leaders!” - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia…

Malibongwe – a word in the Zulu and !Xhosa languages meaning “let the women be praised,” roused the 180 delegates attending the third Gender and Media (GEM) Summit (http://www.genderlinks.org.za/page.php?p_id=400) to action, in Johannesburg, August 10-12.

Among the issues on the table at that meeting was a draft policy on gender equity in the media.

More details to come, but quick hit for now: As part of Women In Media & News’s multimedia lecture series on women, media, politics and pop culture, I will be taking WIMN’s media analysis on the road this fall with a new lecture titled, “When Anchormen Attack: Gender, Race and the Media in the 2008 […]

I have been asked by the Women’s Campaign Forum to blog, post audio and video for the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. I will be posting profiles of pro-choice Women Political Leaders in both parties. I will be talking to delegates, everyday “Women on the Street”, and keeping you updated on what is happening on […]

A huge Media House has decided to follow (us) bloggers, twitters, podcasters and others to the conventions. C-Span has finally joined the social media community in a big way. They will be creating hubs for the Democratic and Republican conventions. Bloggers (Citizen Journalists) will have access to videos for embedding and a place to link to sources for the “on the ground” stories.

The 3rd Gender & Media Summit got under way on Sunday in Johannesburg with a gala event at which Gender & Media Awards in ten categories, as well as two awards honouring journalists and media institutions for good practices and policies on HIV/AIDS and Gender, were presented to media professionals from various countries in Southern Africa. This post, however, is about the Gender and Media Diversity Centre which has the potential to emerge as a global hub for gender and media scholarship and activism.

The first working session of the 3rd Gender and Media (GEM) Summit in Johannesburg featured a presentation that explored possible connections between the representation of women in politics and their appearance as news sources in the media.

By Guest Blogger Jen Sorensen

(illustration by Jen Sorenson)

Why are there so few female political cartoonists? I’ve been asked that question many times over the years. It’s OK, I don’t mind. We’re something of a rare breed. Exact statistics are difficult to find—even the national group Association of American Editorial Cartoonists can only estimate the national […]

Here at Bitch, we’re in search of a perfect someone to join our tiny but dedicated staff as a program director (full-time) at our office in Portland, Oregon. Someone bright, with a deep talent and love for analyzing media/pop culture from a perspective rooted in social/economic justice, who’s passionate about both print publishing and newer […]

N the 1936 Olympic Games, the sprinter Stella Walsh — running for Poland and known as the fastest woman in the world — was beaten by Helen Stephens of St. Louis, who set a world record by running 100 meters in 11.4 seconds. After the race, a Polish journalist protested that Stephens must be a man. After all, no woman in the world could run that fast.

Olympic officials performed a “sex test” on Stephens, who was found, in fact, to be female, proving once and for all that a person could be incredibly fast and female at the same time.

Forty-four years later,…