Politics

Women’s Media Center (Name It. Change It.)

Widespread sexism in the media is one of the top problems facing women in politics; a highly toxic media environment persists for women candidates, often negatively affecting their campaigns. The ever-changing media landscape creates an unmonitored echo chamber, often allowing damaging comments to exist without accountability. To address this issue, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation proudly supported the Women’s Media Center (in partnership with Political Parity and the Women’s Campaign Forum Foundation) in their Name It. Change It. initiative in 2010 and 2011. Groundbreaking research from Lake Research Associates showed that sexist media coverage results in a drastic decrease in voter confidence of women candidates, that ignoring sexist attacks doesn’t neutralize harm to voter confidence, but that directly addressing sexist attacks can help regain lost ground. Name It. Change It. was launched to hold media outlets accountable for their role in our government’s gender disparity. Name It. Change It. tracks incidents of sexist media coverage and commentary on women candidates and leaders generated or covered by media outlets and engages supporters in responding to these incidents through letter writing campaigns and publicity.