POST-FEMINISM AND TELEVISION NEWS By VALERIE BOSER Integrated Studies Project submitted to Dr. Collette Oseen in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts – Integrated Studies Athabasca, Alberta June 2008 1 MAIS 701 Final Project Post-Feminism and Television News by Valerie Boser The images in the media of leaders in the private and public sector are predominantly male, reinforcing stereotypes and contributing to the glass ceiling that excludes women from the key jobs that signal corporate power and influence. (Catalyst Canada 2006). Purpose: Thesis Statement While there is continued debate about whether or not a glass ceiling1 exists, there is no doubt something is happening in organizations that is keeping women out of important positions of leadership and influence. In fact, since the feminist 1 The term glass ceiling was introduced in a 1986 Wall Street Journal article by Carol Hymowitz and Timothy Schellhardt. They wrote, “Even those women who rose steadily through the ranks eventually crashed into an invisible barrier. The executive suite seemed within their grasp, but they just couldn’t break through the glass ceiling.” Laura Liswood of the Council of Women World Leaders says, “There is no glass ceiling: only a very think layer of men.” 2 gains of the 1970s and 80s, the number of women in positions of top leadership is regressing.2 Even though there has been considerable research to try to reveal the dynamic of gender practices in the workplace, this type of study is difficult to conduct due to the challenge of seeing inside an institution. Television news provides a unique window on a real workplace that is also an influential form of popular culture. On a daily basis, the gender practices of the television newsroom are revealed for all to see. What this researcher discovered in a sample of six television newscasts in Canada is that women are largely excluded from leadership roles and stereotyped as supporting players. Based on a content analysis, this paper argues that the assumptions of post-feminism are readily apparent in television news. Normative positions and coercive gendering in television news are contributing to the subtle reintroduction and acceptance of discrimination against women. Introduction The numbers tell a story of discrimination against women in Canada today. Statistics Canada reports that women make up slightly more than 50% of the population and account for 47% of the employed work force. Yet, Catalyst Canada says only 5.4% of executive positions are held by women. Among the 535 most senior and highest paid positions in Canada’s top 100 public companies, just 5.7% are held by women. Canadian Business magazine named 2 Catalyst is a non-profit organization working globally with businesses and professions to build inclusive workplaces and expand opportunities for women in business. It’s Statistical Overview of Women in the Workplace reports Fortune 500 corporate officer positions held by women in 2007 is 15.4%, down from 15.6% in 2006. www.catalyst.org 3 its 2007 CEO of the year and top 10 CEO’s to watch: all men. The Financial Post’s Top 100 CEO’s included only two women. In politics, it’s no better. The Prime Minister of Canada and the Premiers of every province are men. The goals of the feminist movement of the 70’s and 80’s have not been realized in social change resulting in equal opportunity for women in Canada. In fact, this period of post-feminism from the early 1990s to the present appears to have quietly yet actively undermined feminist gains and led to the subtle reintroduction of sexism into our society. It is subtle because it is unofficial. Public and organizational policies not only support gender equality but make discrimination against women against the law (The Canadian Human Rights Act and the Employment Equity Act). As this paper was being written, the drama of Hillary Clinton’s run for the Democratic nomination was unfolding. For a while, it looked like a woman held a good chance of being a presidential candidate in the United States. Over the course of the campaign involving dozens of primaries, much was written and discussed about whether sexism or a glass ceiling was what turned such promise into defeat at the hands of a younger, less-experienced senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. Judith Timson wrote in The Globe and Mail (June 4, 2008) that the media climate permitted an atmosphere of hatred directed at Hillary Clinton “that I think was unprecedented. And then they sought to make her invisible, by simply ignoring her, focusing more on Mr. Obama’s victory laps than on the wide 4 swath of voters she was still winning over in key states.” 3 Yet even Timson couldn’t conclude it was discrimination against women. In her column she asked: “what stopped Hillary Clinton from becoming president? Gender or character? Biology or baggage? Maybe all of the above.”4 Writing in The Toronto Star (June 5, 2008), Bob Hepburn said “…at the heart of Hillary’s loss was overt sexism, which manifested itself I how she was treated throughout the campaign.”5 Hepburn had written an earlier column saying Clinton should stay in the race because she was carrying the hopes and dreams of millions of women who saw her as a trailblazer. The response he received was huge and negative. Hepburn wrote, “What shocked me was the vehemence of some readers who spewed vicious, sexist insults about Hillary.” On June 7, 2008, Hillary made it official by ending her bid for the Democratic nomination and her quest to become the first woman president of the United States of America. Hepburn asked, “Did Hillary lose the race solely because of sexism? Impossible to say for certain, but few can doubt that it deeply affected her chances.” Does sexism and discrimination against women still exist? Obviously it does, but the problem is that it is hard to expose, just as in the case of Hillary Clinton. Barbara Czarniawska writes in Doing Gender Unto The Other: Fiction as a Mode of Studying Gender Discrimination in Organizations that there is a growing body of research showing that women are negatively discriminated against at work however it is not widely accepted or believed to be a systemic problem. In order 3 Timson, Judith, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Canada, June 4, 2008. 4 Ibid. 5 Hepburn, Bob, The Toronto Star, Toronto, Canada, June 5, 2008 5 for workplace discrimination to stop, the evidence must be presented and accepted and habits of conduct must change. In order to facilitate such a major cultural and behavioural change, researchers are using various methods to try to demonstrate how this discrimination occurs, to examine the dynamics of the social practices that constitute discrimination and to show how gender discrimination is reproduced in daily organizational life.6 Difficulties in Researching Gendering Practices There are specific difficulties in researching gendering practices in workplaces. It is hard for a researcher to actually see inside an organization. Negative discrimination is rarely revealed in interviews with men or women. Interviews with victims of discrimination are given little credibility on the grounds that they must be biased if they feel they have been wronged. Showing negative discrimination in action requires prolonged unobtrusive but direct observation of the work place. Given the difficulty of unobtrusive direct observation, researchers have come up with creative solutions including the analysis of popular culture. Czarniawska successfully uses fiction because “fictional texts are reflective of the societies in which their authors have been raised”. She analyzes modern novels and scripts from television programs (including Linda Laplante’s Prime Suspect with its protagonist Inspector Jane Tennyson) to look inside what actually happens in organizations. 6 Czarniawska, Barbara. Doing Gender Unto The Other: Fiction as a Mode of Studying Gender Discrimination in Organizations, Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 13, No. 3 May 2006, p. 235. 6 There are many reasons to take popular culture seriously when studying gender as a social practice. Czarniawska notes that: In so far as it reflects actual practices, it provides a field material on par with traditional interviews and documents. In so far as it shapes actual practice, it may be priceless in understanding the formation of actual practices. Angela McRobbie writing in Post-Feminism and Popular Culture says that the media has become “the key site for defining codes of sexual conduct”.7 The reason so many researchers are looking at popular culture is because of the circular model of culture which suggests that: …the production, circulation and consumption of cultural products constitute a loop rather than a line. Expression becomes control, as popular culture selects and reinforces certain wishes and anxieties of its audience.8 It also reinforces cultural norms including the continued exclusion of women from positions of leadership in society. 7 McRobbie, Angela, Post-Feminism and Popular Culture, Feminist Media Studies, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2004 8 Czarniawska, Barbara. Doing Gender Unto The Other: Fiction as a Mode of Studying Gender Discrimination in Organizations, Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 13, No. 3 May 2006 p. 250 7 Why Television News? Television news is a particularly influential form of popular culture because it purports to be a factual reflection of what is happening in our communities and our world. If the consumption of television news is indeed a loop, then it has the power to reinforce images of what leadership looks like. If in this period of post- feminism, those images are unapologetically and predominantly male, television news can serve to perniciously reinforce stereotypes and contribute to the exclusion of women from leadership roles not only in the newscasts but in politics, business and society in general.