Women as News Anchors Essay -- Women Feminism Careers Employment Essay

Wowork force as News AnchorsWomen in all careers are striving to gain equality in the work sucktoday, and female television tidings anchors are definitely part of the fight. Theroad to television news anchoring is a rocky one, where only a few women brave outand many fail. Where progress was erst thought to have been made, there arentmany females getting ahead in the world of television news. Today, there is a truly slow, if any, gain in the numbers of women who succeed.There are many questions surrounding the subject of women in televisionnews, and I provide attempt to answer relevant ones in this paper. How have thewomen that actually make it to the top and succeed as anchorwomen, done it?What does it take to make it? Why do those few endure it/ bed it? Why has itbeen and still is difficult for women? What are the expectations of women inthe field, as opposed to the expectations of men?I am interested in this topic because I once aspired to become atelevision broadcaster. I s till have inspiration in me, but not quite as muchdue to the ostracize and discouraging aspects I have heard about in classes andin the media. I am not sure that I could be happy in a career such as this, andI know there are great difficulties in making it in this profession. I have render about the incredible ambition of successful females in television news, andit seems like it takes a special kind of passion to want to keep up in thebusiness.I kept my questions in mind when gathering research material. Whilefocusing on the key questions, I was able to find development that direct me toform answers to them. Christine Crafts biography told of her individualexperience of being fired on the basis of her looks and her age. I realizedfrom reading her story that she had a nose for news, a passion for telling itto the world, and a unique spark that made her a good journalist, yet thosequalities werent enough in her case. She took that passion and spark, filed a informal discrimination case and won.Hard News Women in Broadcast Journalism had a few chapters that wererelevant to today, and I could draw on some information for my paper. However,much of the information was historical and not helpful to answering my questions.Battling for News concentrated mainly on print journalism. There wasmaterial about the fi... ...ays of anchormen, senior anchors never fade away. And they cant bekilled by mortal means (Katz 1995, p. 164).Sadly, forward movements arent apparent today by women in televisionnews. Forty years ago, a female gaining the anchor position on the evening newswas a leap forward. Today it feels more like a step backward, an attempt to squelch accomplished, contemporary women into an ill-fitting straightjacket (Katz1995, p. 164).It is apparent that women news anchors face many more struggles than menin the field. It takes a unique individual to fight through those struggles and endeavor for what they want most to relay news throughout the world. Equalitywi th men is far from being reached, but a few females have stood their groundand hopefully made a difference for others that follow. If people open theireyes and realize there are plenty of women who are just as, if not more,competent than men at holding an anchor position, women could gain respectwithin the field. For now, the few women who find success and are willing toendure the hardships that come along will likely survive in the business, atleast until age hinders their physical appearance.