No News is NOT Good News--Media ignored the New White House Council on Women and Girls

photo cc: mecredis

Two weeks ago President Obama created the White House Council for Women and Girls. He publicly signed the Executive Order before representatives of dozens of women's advocacy groups who gathered in the East Room by invitation only, to control an otherwise massive turnout. The White House issued a press release. The President took the podium and gave his remarks before the cameras and White House press corps.

But you know all this, right? You read about it in your paper, you saw it on the news, you heard about it on the radio.

Oh, you didn't?

Of course you didn't. There was practically no coverage of the event at all. Apparently, "women and girls" don't deserve attention, unless of course we are victims of violent crime, neglecting our children, going wild, or selling beer wearing inadequate clothing - in which case you can hardly miss us.

No, the frankest acknowledgement to date of the status of women by any US Chief Executive was deemed simply not newsworthy. It's the ultimate irony - the announcement that women are impacted by receiving too little attention was greeted with - wait for it - too little attention.

But it WAS news. The President finally said what activists have been saying for years. Women still face discrimination at work. In spite of earning more undergraduate and graduate degrees than men, women continue to trail men's earnings by about a third. Women make up nearly half the workforce, yet comprise a tiny fraction of decision-makers as corporate CEO's, managing partners in law firms, department chairs in hospitals, or the upper echelons of academia. Women comprise only 17% of the US Congress, yet we outnumber men in the population. This disparity in access to power and resources is not the result of "personal choices", "opting out", or "lifestyle differences". It is the result of systemic, institutional inequality which pervades all aspects of our culture. And the President has said it is wrong.

The new Council's stated purpose is to ensure equal treatement for women and girls in all matters of federal policy. It will focus on improving women's economic security, mitigating work/family conflict, protecting women from domestic violence, and improving access to and quality of health care services. It is comprised of every Cabinet Secretary and the directors of key federal agencies. Immediately before the announcement, every council member was instructed to assess the internal operations of her or his department, consider their effect on women within the organization, and also the impact of departmental public policy on women and girls. Valerie Jarrett, the President's Senior Advisor and Council Chair, subsequently stated that Cabinet level staff were appointed to ensure accountability, and see that the focus on women in the federal government was not diluted by being passed down the ranks.

The future of this country will largely depend on the productivity of women, in terms of both birth rate and ecnomic output. Women's economic status has implications in every realm of our private and public life. Women's economic security translates directly to the existence and potential of our future workforce and the vigor of our economy in a global market. Our national aspirations are severely compromised if women are not free from battering in their homes and cannot afford or obtain health care for themselves and their families. The stated objectives of the White House Council on Women and Girls acknowledge all of these realities and commit a coordinated federal response to them. What were once diminished and dismissed as "women's issues" are now rightly seen as "family issues and economic issues". That is a radical departure from mainstream American thought in the very recent past.

And that IS news.

Valerie A. Young
Advocacy Coordinator
National Association of Mothers' Centers (NAMC)
Coordinating Committee - MOTHERS Initiative
http://www.MothersCenter.org
MOTHERS HELPING MOTHERS