Women Are Not Important
September 12, 2011 No Comments
Men and women have made so much progress towards gender equality. So much so that it is easy to think that everything is equal, feminism is over, and we can all go on our merry way. Unfortunately this view is wrong, and we need to keep being reminded of this.
That is the goal of Jennifer Dalton’s new art exhibit “What Does an Important Person Look Like?” After doing some research, Dalton found that top talk shows rarely interview women compared to men. This was the inspiration for her piece, which is being shown at the Winkleman Gallery in New York City.
Dalton took screen shots of people interviewed on top talk shows including The Daily Show, Rachel Maddow and Terry Ross. She framed female guests in silver and male guests in gold. Lined up, it is easy to see how lopsided the gender balance is.
Accompanied with the frames is a letter addressed to “Bill/Brian/Charlie/Jon/Leonard/Rachel/ Stephen/Terry” in which Dalton explains her findings. She writes that “in 2010, the most lopsided show among you featured only 17.5 percent female guests. The most balanced among you still only featured 34 percent female guests.”
So what’s the deal? Like Dalton, I am a fan of many of the talk shows she mentions. Are the producers really gender biased, or is sexism just so engrained in media that we don’t notice it?
If so many talk shows are guilty of such a disparity, the problem must go beyond each show individually. There are just as many important and interesting women out there to interview as men. They may be harder to find, talk shows may have to dig a little deeper, but that extra work will help us all.
Contact the author here: jennY@morningquickie.com
