Gender bias in the media? Women leaders hold frank discussion

A panel of political leaders and media representatives agreed the press treats women differently.

By Sissi Aguila

Moderator and award-winning journalist Helen Aguirre Ferré opened the panel discussion at the Frost Art Museum on Sept. 26 with a simple question, “Is there gender bias in the media?”

All at the table – conservative and liberal women representing media and politics – agreed there is. And both men and women, they said, are responsible for it.

Hosted by the FIU Women’s Studies Program and the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) along with the Florida Commission on the Status of Women, the forum focused on recent political coverage, including articles discussing the weight of Regina Benjamin, President Obama’s pick for Surgeon General. Men who have served in the position previously and were overweight, they argued, did not receive the same scrutiny.

“Women are held to a higher standard,” said State Rep. Anitere Flores. “We have to work twice as hard. But it’s OK, we can do it. No one on this panel is saying ‘Woe is me.’”

FIU professors Judith Stiehm of the Political Science Department and Jane Daugherty of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication cited research that provided a wider perspective of the effects of gender bias.

“Gender stereotypes tend to help Democratic women leaders get elected,” Stiehm said. “The opposite is true for Republicans.”

Daugherty presented studies that showed Americans are increasingly distrusting of the press. She put forth that part of the reason is the mean-spiritedness of political commentators.

How to tackle the problem and uphold freedom of the press? Panelists urged women, particularly young women, to take charge.

“Pick up the phone, send an e-mail to that reporter,” added former State Rep. Dorothy Bedross-Mindingall. “Speak up when there is an injustice.”

Panelists included Myriam Marquez, Miami Herald editorial page editor; Glenna Milberg, WLPG Channel 10 journalist; Florida Sen. Nan Rich; Katy Sorenson, Miami-Dade County commissioner; Florida Rep. Anitere Flores; Former Rep. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall; Judith Stiehm, FIU political science professor and past provost; Jane Daugherty, associate professor in the FIU School of Journalism and Mass Communication; and Ann Herberger, president of the Woods-Herberger Group.