With the recent furor over Simcoe Grey's Helena Guergis, one the comments I've heard a few times is why, in the year 2010, we still have a Minister of State for the Status of Women.
Here's an example, albeit a small one, of how women are not exactly at equality just yet:
The radio newsroom at which I work is connected to several other stations, in Owen Sound, Port Elgin, Goderich and soon, Orillia. We share resources and stories and sometimes a laugh or two.When the stories first started breaking about Helena Guergis, some of the newsies at the other stations titled the stories they were writing, 'Helena' rather than "Guergis".
Never when a story comes across my desk featuring a male politician does the slug line feature only the first name of the politician. I checked.
When Bill Murdoch was doing his sit in in the fall in protest of the HST, the stories were titled, 'Murdoch- Sit In' or 'Murdoch- Sit in Continues', not 'Bill- Sit in', or 'Bill- Sit in Continues'. When Jim Wilson makes pronouncements, it's 'Wilson', when Garfield Dunlop talks, the story is slugged 'Dunlop'. Ditto for Harper, Baird, Bernier and Obama. The argument might be made that Jim and Bill need the last name because their first names are so common. Maybe so, but I have yet to see a story slugged, 'Barak'. Since language is the cutting edge of thought, what does referring to a female politician in the diminutive reveal?
The very fact that I had to point this difference out to my male colleagues and request equal treatment for a woman in the news is a small, sad sign we haven't yet come all the way, baby.
Well said!
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