- The Herald reports on the radical move by a number of exclusive men's clubs in Melbourne to allow women to join. Apparently women don't want to be allowed to join, or something.
- Richard Boock writes about the inequalities women face in the sporting world, with some startling examples like the prize for the top sports journo in the Qantas Media Awards being your weight in beer... (Thanks to Joanna for emailing me about this).
- The Herald's sub-eds strike again - the headline implies Bill Clinton thinks Palin is sexually attractive, but when you actually read the article it doesn't come out that way at all.
- Parliament opens their "Rainbow Room," a select committee room dedicated to recognising the contributions of lesbian, gay and transgender MPs.
- Profile of National's departing woman MP, Katherine Rich, here. No doubt there will be more to come on this once she delivers her valedictory, does anyone know when that will be?
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
News brevities
A few articles that may be of interest to you:
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9 comments:
No doubt there will be more to come on this once she delivers her valedictory, does anyone know when that will be?
This afternoon sometime (probably around 17:00)
I actually facepalmed over the Herald headline, thinking that the Democrats had just shot themselves in the foot by being genuinely sexist - and then that turned out to not be the case at all. Given the whole Obama-lipstick kerfuffle, I think that wasn't just bad subbing, it was maliciously dishonest. [Mind you, with the quality of the Herald subs these days, who can tell?]
I've got to say that Bill could have chosen a better word than 'hot'. 'Popular' would have served well.
On the Katherine Rich article:
I think its interesting they put her in a similar tradition of liberal right as Marilyn Waring. At the debate last week, Nikki Kaye (Auckland Nat candidate) cited Rich as her inspiration. As I was watching Kaye talking, she reminded me of a young Waring when I saw her talking at Auckland Uni way back around 76 (in one of those B lecture theatres under the library). Kaye seemed to me to have the same confidence, sharp intellect and ability at public speaking at a young age. Waring was already in parliament then - I think younger than Kaye when she got into parliament.
Waring said back then that she was for all the social issues that lefties supported, but that she thought the only way to create the money to put the social policies into practice was thru Nat economic policies. Still don't agree with her on the economic policies. She also had a strong critique of the masculine dominance in all parties including the Nats. In that talk in 76, in answer to a question/comment about some men MPs, Waring said something like "that's not the part of their bodies they should be strung up by." (Stuck in my mind as it seemed quite radical & tough at the time).
Like Rich she had some views that enable her to reach across the left-right divide. I have heard that Rich and Sue Bradford have quite a lot of mutual respect and work quite well together.
I expect Kaye to succeed well in politics too, and may also be a good ally on some left and feminist issues on occasions.
The 3 of them are not people who I would vote for due to the economic views, but they are, or will be always interesting IMO.
Maybe in new Zealand woman are treated unequally in sport, not so in the USA. The WNBA sells out its games, it gets live TV coverage and the sport is taken seriously. The Williams sisters grace the cover of sports illustrated, Danni Patrick gets full on coverage, they are not treated the way they are because of what they look like, but their sporting ability, its too bad some NZ Journos don't do the same.
Brett, did you read the whole of that article? One of the main bits of research showing sexist and/or misogynistic attitudes and practices in sport was done in California. There were also examples of sexism given in US tennis, or by a US tennis player - wit a focus on women's appearance.
The US has a very big population to draw on to support games like women's basketball, but it still runs secondary to male sport there.
In NZ an Aussie-NZ netball game got higher ratings recently than All Blacks games - more to do with a comparison between free-to-air and Sky coverage tho than the status of each support generally.
TV One and Prime also have women doing regular reports on rugby. One of TV One's main sports reporters on the evening news is now a woman.
Interesting thoughts on Waring, Rich and Kaye, Carol (and thanks for coming along to the debate, sorry I didn't get a chance to chat to your afterwards). Unless Kaye wins Auckland Central she's unlikely to get in this time, but certainly she does seem destined to join the House sometime in the future. I really hope National do get a good influx of social liberals in their caucus, as Rich is not the only one leaving and we will always need allies on that side of the House. Especially if the abortion debate heats up in the next Parliament.
On Waring, I did ring to see if she was available for the debate but sadly she was not. Definitely keen to try to line up a function with her next year though, so watch this space!
Its interesting to note that womans basketball ourrates womans netball in Australia.
My Problem with the NZ media and woman sports go back into the 80's.
When Erin Baker was winning triathlon, the media focused on Susan Devoy, even though Erin's achievements were bigger because of the size of the sport.
But back to America, there are plenty of female reporters covering male sports in the NBA and the NFL.
So things are getting better.
Julie, I will be interested in any more events you organised, including one with Waring. Sorry I rushed off home after the last one finished - was still recovering my energy after being ill.
Brett, my knowledge of women's sport in the US and Aus is influenced by the kind of contacts I have in those countries.
From them I get the message that women's basketball has a major lesbian following. In the US especially, they make it sound like the broadcast and at-the-game audience includes a high proportion of lesbian or bi women.
Don't know how that affects the way it is broadcast, but I have heard many complaints from my contacts about the way the media covers women's sports generally in their countries.
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