First Black & First Woman: Howard nominated to Navy’s no. 2 post

(Dec. 21, 2013 | DiversityInc.) - Confirmation by the Senate is all that stands between Vice Admiral Michelle Howard and history.

Howard was nominated by President Obama on Friday to become the Navy’s new Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO), the branch’s second-highest post. Read more

After “Selfie” at Mandela service, more stereotyping of First Lady

(Dec. 19, 2013 | Maynard Institute) - Media coverage of the memorial service for Nelson Mandela was inclusive — up to a point. That this one South African had changed minds and changed the world was clear during scenes from the service broadcast around the world. Read more

Sexism and the Media: How the media failed in 2013?

(Dec. 5, 2013 | Time NewsFeed) - When it comes to the portrayal and treatment of women in the media, we’ve come a long way since the Mad Men era. And yet, in 2013, it’s still not unusual to hear messages like “I’m not saying she deserved to be raped, but…” or “Women just aren’t as good at math as men” crop up on the web or on TV. Read more

Study: Women are critical of sexually explicit ads, unless they are expensive

By Katy Waldman
(Dec. 5, 2013 | Slate) - Being an advertiser is hard. On one hand, sex sells (and sells and sells). . . . A new study in the journal Psychological Science shines a light on when it’s OK to objectify the female body . . . continue

Tech start-ups show little imagination on board gender diversity

By Sarah McBride and Poornima Gupta
(Dec. 6, 2013 | Reuters) - At Pinterest, the four-year-old online bulletin board service that is valued near $3.8 billion, some 70 percent of the users are female. But the company's board of directors is 100 percent male. Read more

Hollywood still treats its women as second class citizens

By Edward Helmore
(November 30, 2013 | The Observer via The Guardian) - By Monday morning, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the sci-fi adventure thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence, will have taken close to half a billion dollars in global ticket sales. A female-led blockbuster is rare in any year, and all the more so in one marked by box-office disappointments and industry turmoil. Read more

How well are women represented in the UK independent film industry?

(Source: The Guardian Data Blog) - Under-representation of women in key creative and production roles in the film industry has been well-documented for many years. The latest figures from the British Film Institute (BFI), looking at female screenwriters and directors of UK independent films, provide a varied set of results. Read more

Geena Davis: Two easy steps to make Hollywood less sexist

By Geena Davis
(Dec. 11, 2013 | The Hollywood Reporter) - I never intended to become a data head. I could never have predicted it would play such an important role in my life. Yet here we are: My Institute on Gender in Media has sponsored the largest amount of research ever done on gender depictions in media, covering a 20-year-plus span. Read more

Women-centric TV shows dominate WGAs

By Inkoo Kang
(Dec. 10, 2013 | Indiewire) - If the so-called Golden Age of Television -- a cultural epoch that deconstructed traditional masculinity while reveling in violence and guilt (The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men) -- is now over, we appear to be living in a second Golden Age -- one for women on TV. Read more

Study: Female executives in California making progress slowly

By Max Pringle
(Dec. 9, 2013 | KPBS) - An annual study on California female business leaders shows that the glass ceiling for women in business is rising, but said there's lots of work to be done before it shatters. Read more

Wonder Woman shouldn't be a sidekick

By Noah Berlatsky
(Dec. 6, 2013 | The Atlantic) - Various Wonder Woman movie projects have been stuck in development hell for more or less forever, but it looks like we'll finally be getting to see an on-screen Amazon princess in the near future. Zack Snyder is including the character in his Batman vs. Superman film; Gal Gadot has been cast. Wonder Woman fans rejoice . . . read more

Appearance still counts for tween girls in TV shows

By Francine Russo
(Dec. 6, 2013 | Time) - Female characters focused more on looks and being attractive than male characters on shows aimed at eight to 12 year olds.

That’s the conclusion from a new study that found even if girls were doing the same things as boys, they still had to look attractive. Read more