Women's Media Center

Women's representation in media

The Women's Media Center "works to ensure women are powerfully and visibly represented in the media" and "to diversify the media in its content and sources, so that the stories and perspectives of women and girls are more accurately portrayed." The organization convenes panels, issues reports, organizes grassroots campaigns, and meets with media outlets to address issues of women's representation and general diversity.

In response to the report from the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, the Women's Media Center partnered with more than ten other organizations to organize the SPARK Summit, also known as the Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge. The SPARK Summit took place on October 22, 2010, at Hunter College in New York City.

The Women's Media Center gives out a Social Media Award, which "recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to advancing women's and girls’ visibility and power in media". Jude Doyle received the first award in 2011.

Media training and expert sources

In 2008, WMC launched the Progressive Women's Voices media and leadership training program to connect qualified, authoritative women experts to editors, reporters, producers, and bookers. SheSource, WMC's online database of more than 500 women experts, serves journalists looking for female sources, commentators, and guests.

Sexism watchdog

WMC acts as a watchdog for sexism in the media and develops campaigns to advocate for fair and balanced coverage. During the 2008 presidential election, WMC released a video "Sexism Sells but We're Not Buying It", along with a petition campaign to call attention to sexism against female candidates during the primaries. Another video, "Media Justice for Sotomayor", discusses racist and sexist media coverage during the 2009 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

On August 31, 2010, the WMC partnered with the Women's Campaign Forum Foundation and the Political Parity Initiative of the Hunt Alternatives Fund to launch Name it. Change it. (NICI), a ground-breaking national campaign that addresses sexism in the media targeted at female politicians and political candidates. NICI aims to ensure accountability through a coordinated rapid response network to dramatically decrease incidents of media misogyny.

Health care reform and reproductive rights

In reaction to the 2009 Stupak–Pitts Amendment, and other proposed health care reform legislation limiting access and funding for abortions, WMC began actively advocating for women's reproductive rights. On December 10, 2009, WMC announced the launch of its Not Under The Bus campaign to "keep women's health care fair, safe, and accessible to all."

With the campaign announcement, the organization declared its "first call to action is to stop the Stupak Amendment, the Hatch-Nelson Amendment, and others like them which are the most draconian restrictions on women since the 1977 Hyde Amendment that cut federal funding for abortions by Medicaid."

2010 campaign against CBS and Focus on the Family ad

In January 2010, Women's Media Center and a coalition of more than 30 organizations "dedicated to reproductive rights, tolerance, and social justice" (including the National Organization for Women and NARAL Pro-Choice America) sent a letter to CBS, NFL and its advertisers calling on them to pull an advertisement featuring football player Tim Tebow, sponsored by conservative Christian group Focus on the Family (FOTF), from Super Bowl XLIV. The resulting campaign garnered widespread national media attention. Previously, in 2010 CBS had rejected a humorous ad from a gay online dating service, ManCrunch, and in 2004 an ad promoting the United Church of Christ as gay-friendly, citing a policy against any controversy in Super Bowl ad. CBS then decided to end this policy and accept controversial ads, so that the anti-abortion ad would be aired, which the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) called a "homophobic double standard".

In its letter to CBS, the WMC coalition denounced the actions of Focus on the Family and the politics of CBS, based on their acceptance of their advertisement.

The WMC campaign was criticized for freedom of speech concerns. An editorial in The New York Times called it censorship, and said that they should use this as an opportunity to promote their own movement. The Los Angeles Times, despite their stance in favor of abortion rights, congratulated CBS for their decision. Bill O'Reilly of Fox News said Greene and her group were, "trying to muzzle them. That's not the American way." The coalition responded with an op-ed article in Huffington Post in which former WMC President Jehmu Greene wrote that they were not attempting to censor anything, and suggested that the situation would be different if the Ku Klux Klan were involved.

During Super Bowl XLIV, CBS elected to air the two 30-second commercials, which included Tebow's personal story as part of an overall anti-abortion stance.

Women Under Siege

Main article: Women Under Siege Project

Women Under Siege is a project of the Women's Media Center. It has reported on the use of rape as a means of oppression in Syria. Women Under Siege has also reported extensively about the continued use of rape as a weapon of war in Myanmar (also known as Burma).

References

References

1. "About WMC". Women's Media Center.
2. "Women's Media Center Announce Julie Burton as Interim President".
3. "The Women's Media Center Announces First Annual Media Awards".
4. (November 2010). "The SPARK Summit: Challenging the sexualization of girls and women at Hunter College in New York City". American Psychological Association.
5. "Jude Ellison Sady Doyle – Profile". In These Times.
6. (2011-11-29). "Women's Media Center". Womensmediacenter.com.
7. [http://womensmediacenter.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&Itemid=163 “Progressive Women’s Voices"], Women's Media Center. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
8. [http://www.shesource.org/shesource/about.php “About Us.”] SheSource.org. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
9. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-IrhRSwF9U “Sexism Sells but We’re Not Buying It.”] YouTube. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
10. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJgDalwwQww "Media Justice for Sotomayor"], YouTube, July 10, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
11. [https://womensmediacenter.com/about/press/press-releases/name-it.-change-it.-campaign-launches-into-action "Name it. Change it. Campaign Launches into Action"]. Women's Media Center. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
12. [http://exclusives.womensmediacenter.com/index.php/resources/press-kit/226-stupak-amendment.html?template=wmc_press “Women’s Media Center Condemns Passage of Stupak-Pitts Amendment.”] Women's Media Center. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
13. [http://www.notunderthebus.com/ Not Under The Bus website.] Retrieved March 9, 2010.
14. [http://www.feminist.com/activism/wmc.html “Women's Media Center Launches New Media Campaign to Keep Women’s Health Care Fair, Safe, and Accessible to All.”] Feminist Online. December 10, 2009. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
15. (December 10, 2009). "Stupak's NYT Op-Ed: Congresswoman Capps Responds {{!}} RH Reality Check".
16. [http://womensmediacenter.com/blog/2010/01/stop-anti-choice-super-bowl-ad/ "Stop Anti-Choice Super Bowl Ad."] Women's Media Center. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
17. [https://www.espn.com/nfl/playoffs/2009/news/story?id=4857753 "CBS Urged To Scrap Super Bowl Ad With Tebow, Mom."] Associated Press/ESPN website. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
18. Jonsson, Patrik. (January 30, 2010). "Why Tebow and not gay dating ad? CBS on Super Bowl hot seat; Gay groups are calling CBS homophobic for agreeing to air an antiabortion ad featuring Tim Tebow and not the ad for gay dating website ManCrunch". [[The Christian Science Monitor]].
19. (January 30, 2010). "Editorial: Super Bowl Censorship". [[The New York Times]].
20. (February 5, 2010). "Editorial: The Tebow ad; CBS is right in refusing to bow to pressure not to run an advocacy ad during the Super Bowl". [[Los Angeles Times]].
21. (January 27, 2010). "Controversy Over Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad Featuring Tim Tebow". [[Fox News]].
22. Eshleman, Keith. "The Truth About CBS: C-hoice, B-ias, and the S-uper Bowl".
23. Sima Barmania. (2012-06-19). "Women under siege: The use of rape as a weapon of war in Syria". The Independent.
24. Wolfe, Lauren. (July 11, 2012). "The ultimate assault: Charting Syria's use of rape to terrorize its people". Women Under Siege.
25. Onello, Michelle. (2014-01-13). "New report details ongoing sexualized violence in Burma". Women Under Siege.
26. Sann, Phyu Phyu. (March 15, 2012). "License to rape: How Burma's military employs systematic sexualized violence". Women Under Siege.