About the Issue
- Women hold only 5% of clout positions in mainstream media.
- Women comprised 9% of directors and 15% of film writers in the top 250 grossing films of 2012.
- The United States is 90th in the world in terms of women in national legislatures.
- Women hold 18% of the seats in Congress (the equivalent body in Rwanda is over 50% female).
- Women are merely 4% of Fortune 500 CEOs.
- About 25% of girls will experience teen dating violence.
- The number of cosmetic surgical procedures performed on youth 18 or younger more than tripled from 1997 to 2007.
- Among youth 18 and younger, liposuctions nearly quadrupled between 1997 and 2007 and breast augmentations increased nearly six-fold in the same 10-year period.
- 65% of American women and girls report disordered eating behaviors.
REPORT: The Status of Women in the U.S. Media 2013 (via Women’s Media Center)
Sources for Miss Representation documentary stats
Resources and Additional Information by Subject Matter
Media: Consumption, Literacy and Advocacy
Gender: Representation in the Media and Sexualization
Self-Esteem, Abuse and Body Image
Leadership: Women’s Leadership, Leadership Development and Media Advocacy
House Party Kit
Healthy Media Guidelines
MissRepresentation.org is a proud member of the Healthy MEdia Commission. The Commission recently developed a comprehensive list of aspirational elements to consider when determining whether or not media’s representation of women and girls is healthy and realistic. We believe that all forms of media should strive to include these elements:
- Healthy body images
- Active and diverse female characters
- Equal and healthy relationships
- Increased number of roles for women and girls
Click here for more information on the elements of healthy media and girls.
Recommended readings
From Jennifer Siebel Newsom and the MissRepresentation.org team.
Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes The Way We Think And Feel
By Jean Kilbourne
Closing the Leadership Gap: Add Women, Change Everything
By Marie C. Wilson
Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture
By Ariel Levy
Globalizing Feminisms, 1789-1945
Edited By Karen Offen
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
By Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
In a Different Voice
By Carol Gilligan
The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do About It
By M. Gigi Durham, Ph.D.
The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women And How All Men Can Help
By Jackson Katz
Notes from the Cracked Ceiling: Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and What It Will Take for A Woman to Win
By Anne E. Kornblut
Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV
by Jennifer L. Pozner, Women In Media & News
Sexism in America: Alive, Well, and Ruining Our Future
By Barbara J. Berg, Ph.D.
The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything
By Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress
Women World Leaders
By Laura A. Liswood
