Vol. 36, No. 4, Fall 2008

IWMF Will Study News
Media Industry Worldwide

The International Women's Media Foundation is launching a research project to examine the news media industry structure worldwide from a gender perspective. The project, called the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media, will document the levels of involvement by women

The IWMF's research project will build on and update an UNESCO-funded report, An Unfinished Story: Gender Patterns in Media Employment, written by Margaret Gallagher in 1995. Gallagher’s study, conducted in 43 countries, found that in most of the world, women’s professional representation in both news and other branches of the media ranged from the single digits to around 30 percent.

Research for the IWMF's Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media will be conducted through December 2009, and the project report will be published in June 2010.

Men Are Early Adopters of Technology,
But Women Dominate Social Media

When it comes to social media, women are at the forefront, writes Auren Hoffman, co-founder and CEO of Rapleaf in a special report for BusinessWeek.

“At Rapleaf we conducted a study of 13.2 million people and how they're using social media. While the trends indicate both sexes are using social media in huge numbers, our findings show that women far outpace the men.

“As a result, with the next wave of innovation likely to target women more than men, this gender gap on social networks (and increasingly in all of social media) will only widen. Naturally, male adoption of social media will grow as well. It just won't keep pace with the expanding engagement among female users.”

Read the entire report at http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080516_580743.htm

User statistics and information about individual sites is available directly from Rapleaf’s site at http://blog.rapleaf.com/2007/11/13/statistics-on-googles-opensocial-platform-end-users-and-facebook-users/

New Studies Show Link Between Sexual Media Content
And Pregnancy, Violent Videos and Hostility

The current issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, contains two studies with disturbing results about sexual and social behavior and their connection to media content.

The first, a three-year study by the RAND research organization, is the first to link viewing of racy television program with risky sexual behavior by teens.

The second report, which includes the first in the U.S. to look at the effects of violent video games over time, combines the results of two longitudinal Japanese studies and one from the U.S. They found consistent behavioral results across both cultures.

Indie Films Push Back Against
‘Thin-Is-Beautiful’ Ideal

Writing for Women’s eNews, Frances C. Whittelsley reports about three movies that illustrate how the fashion industry, and culture in general, resist calls to depict healthy-weight models in shows and advertising, and how devastating the consequences of that resistance can be: “America the Beautiful,” “Beauty Mark,” and “disFigured.” Read her story at www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3795

Women In Photography International Establishes List
of Top 100 Distinguished Women Photographers

Women In Photography International continues its tradition by establishing a list of the Top 100 Distinguished Women Photographers for 2008. Included on the list are photography's classics, Lillian Bassman, Jodi Cobb, Anne Geddes, Graciela Iturbide, Helen Levitt, Sally Mann and Cindy Sherman.

Starting in 2006, to celebrate WIPI's 25th Anniversary, Women In Photography International (http://www.womeninphotography.org) began the process of researching and culling the names of working women photographers worldwide for their online resource center. After two years, the finalized list of the top 100 female photographers was completed in August 2008, and serves as the 25th Anniversary Addendum to WIPI's Distinguished Photographer's Award, first presented to Eve Arnold in 1981.

Research in Depth – Women and Political Socialization: The Influence of Gender and Media on Political Attitudes and Behavior by Anne Johnston and Kathleen Schmermund

Research in Depth – Visual Depictions of Gender in Parenting Magazines by Melissa Martinson and Amanda Hinnant, University of Missouri-Columbia, and Barbara E. Martinson, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Commentary – Coverage of Clinton and Palin: What’s Your Plan for America and Where Did You Get That Jacket? by Sheila Gibbons, Editor

Plus News Briefs!

Media Report to Women has hard copies of back issues dating to its founding in 1972. Indispensable for research!