My chapter focused on the images of women in the media, and the way in which various of the issues highlighted by the report are either not represented at all, or misrepresented. So, I looked at the way in which the everyday issues around juggling work, and family life, and pay inequity, and lack of decent daycare, and so on and so forth, simply don't get on the national radar on the news. The extent to which women are underrepresented as pundits and experts on talk shows, and at the same time, ironically, the way in which women are overrepresented as very successful professionals on dramatic television. So, we see all these very high powered, tough talking, female DAs, and chiefs of police, and surgeons, talking tough to their male coworkers, or underlings, or even bosses, appearing to have broken the glass ceiling, when of course, in real life, most women work as secretaries, and cashiers, and nurses, and child care workers.
I think it would be great if the news media and talk shows payed a lot more attention to the lives of everyday people, not just elites, and everyday women and families, and really opened up and explored the major challenges facing women and their families. And I also think it would be great if more schools really had programs in media literacy to help our kids talk back to some of the misrepresentations in the media that surround them.