Harry Gregory

On Being Silver

“Katie Couric Leaves ABC News for Yahoo,” by Liz Raftery, Yahoo! News, Nov 25, 2013 01:09 PM ET

This article provides a fitting final blog of the semester. It converges the discussions in COMM 2107 Women in the Media with those in COMM 2101 Writing for Digital Media. It hints at a parallel between the rise of the web for news distribution and the rise of opportunities for women. In Chapter 10 “Writing for Web Journalism” from Stovall’s Writing for the Mass Media the first paragraph on page 213, THE FUTURE, the author states:

The Web is no longer an add-on for the traditional media. Because of its speed, capacity, flexibility and ubiquity, the Web is becoming the dominant means of distributing news and information.

Katie Couric, a well-known woman in traditional media, is transitioning away from one of the most established names in traditional media, ABC News. “Yahoo News…

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Harry Gregory

“Yellen’s Fed Leadership Is an Almost-Done Deal,” By Binyamin Applebaum and Jonathan Weisman, New York Times, Published: November 21, 2013

This is a follow up to a story in my blog posted Oct. 9, 2013. Janet Yellen’s nomination to replace Ben Bernanke as head of the Federal Reserve was approved by the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. The next step in the confirmation process is a vote by the full senate sometime after Thanksgiving. A recent rules change for presidential appointments means that she will only need 51 votes to become the first woman to hold this position.
Ms. Yellen has been vice-chair and a strong supporter of current Fed policy since 2010. Her transition to chair on Feb. 1 is expected to maintain the emphasis on strengthening the economic recovery. “I agree with the sentiment expressed by my colleague Janet Yellen at her testimony last week,” Mr. Bernanke said on Tuesday, “that the surest path to a more normal approach to monetary policy is to do all we can today to promote a more robust recovery.”

Read the full article at this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/22/business/economy/senate-committee-approves-yellen-as-fed-chairwoman.html?_r=0

Harry Gregory

“More people prefer a male boss, but gender gap is narrowing,” by Kelly Wallace, CNN, Nov 13, 2013

The article includes a video of a good discussion of the stereotypes we have explored this semester in COMM 2107 Women in the Media. It also shows that the preference gap in the Gallup survey has narrowed significantly. In 1953 a male boss was preferred by 66% of respondents compared to 5% for a female boss. Today those numbers are 35% for a male boss and 23% for a female boss. A chart in the article dramatizes the trend toward equality.

“I think it’s great to see that trend, so I’m very encouraged by it, but I’m not surprised that it’s still a 2-to-1 ratio of people preferring to work for men than women, said sociologist and workplace consultant BJ Gallagher, who has written several books, including a best-seller on diversity called ‘A Peacock in the Land of Penguins.’ (‘…this corporate fable explores what it means to be “different” in a world that values conformity, stability, and tradition.’)”

It appears that as more employees experience working for a female boss the trend toward equal preference is gaining momentum. A majority of women managers recognize that they have a role to play in this and are more willing to extend a helping hand to others than men are.

“In fact, a report by Catalyst (a nonprofit focused on expanding opportunities for women in business) found that 73% of women who received career development support are helping to support and develop other women, versus 30% of men…
The mom of two (Susan Nierenberg, vice president of global marketing and corporate communications for Catalyst) said, ‘It’s infectious. When women help other women, then the women they help (have) a role model in that regard.'”

The imbedded links add a level of interest to the subject. I recommend giving them a look and read the full article here: http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/13/living/identity-gallup-male-boss-female-boss/index.html?iref=allsearch
Editor’s note: Kelly Wallace is CNN’s digital correspondent and editor-at-large covering family, career and life.

Harry Gregory

“Saudi writer held for backing women drivers,” Al Jazeera America, Oct. 30, 2013

Even though the law does not prevent women from driving in Saudi Arabia there is a societal ban because of pervasive religious beliefs in the subjugation of women. Some women who protested the ban on Oct. 26 were fined but none have been arrested, yet. Supporting the campaign to end to the ban has proven to be another matter.

Tariq al-Mubarak, a columnist for Asharq al-Awsat, wrote an article accusing extremists of “intimidating people to stop them exercising their rights.” He was interrogated by the Interior Ministry’s Criminal Investigation Department and remains in custody. He has not been allowed to see an attorney. As a result, other reform minded activists “have put in place contingency plans and emergency numbers for journalists and rights organisations to call in case they were detained.”

It remains to be seen if authorities intend to crush the campaign for reform or are merely acting to appease the religious clerics. This incident should be a lesson in the value of maintaining separation of church and state.

Read the full article here: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/10/saudi-writer-who-backed-women-driving-held-201310301805512920.html