Let's hear what men have to say about women's issues

During the 2012 Presidential election campaign, policies that have a major impact on women have taken center stage in political discussions. Major media outlets declared that so-called “women’s issues” played a major role in voter decisions in both the senate and presidential elections for the first time since 1994 – the “year of women” (Henderson & Helderman, 2012; Steinhauer, 2012; Rikleen, 2012). What the media labeled “women’s issues” refer to key policies that primarily affect females, such as reproductive rights (abortion and contraception, Planned Parenthood), women’s rights (the Equal Rights Amendment and pay equality, sexual harassment, child welfare), and women’s roles (the relationship between career and family, women as housewives versus household heads) (Daughton, 1994; Schaffner, 2005). However, these issues affect not only women, but society as a whole. The very label “women’s issues” is problematic, as it “effectively marks fully half of the population as a ‘special interest’ group – and, therefore, in political parlance, as a selfish minority, a group to regard with suspicion, a group that does not seek the common good” (Daughton, 1994, p. 109).

Graphic depiction of Gender Gap in News Stories regarding Women's Issues.  Source: 4th State.net

In the context of the 2012 elections, a non-academic study conducted by 4th State analyzed 50,000 quotes from print and network news stories published between November 2011 and April 2012. The results are astonishing: men are much more likely to be the sources on stories regarding abortion, birth control, Planned Parenthood and Women’s Rights, all considered “women’s issues”. 79% of the quotes in print media were from males, and only 16% of the people quoted on television were females. This reflects a tendency to not only ignore women voices, but to ignore them even when speaking about issues that disproportionally affect females.