Women's Views on News |
- Style over substance for women on TV
- Birmingham’s lap dancing venues reviewed
- Cricketer could make history this summer
- Pixar’s first female director snubbed at Golden Globes
| Style over substance for women on TV Posted: 22 Jan 2013 08:30 AM PST
It's a headline that refuses to go away, and last week ex-Radio 4 newsreader Alice Arnold added her voice to the many who have raised concerns over how women broadcasters – particularly those on television – are being sidelined and ignored as they age. Her comments, which criticized TV bosses for marginalising older women, only served to underline a controversy that has been growing steadily since Arlene Philips – then 66 – was replaced by 30 year-old Alesha Dixon on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in 2009. Coincidentally, one of Arnold's most compelling comments seems to be a veiled criticism of Strictly and its Methuselah-like host Bruce Forsythe. “You look at men of a certain age or appearance who are on TV and think: 'If you were a woman, you wouldn't be there'.” And she's right. Imagine the BBC employing an 84-year-old woman to host a programme alongside a model-esque male presenter less than half her age. You can't, can you? It would be moderate mitigation if one could look to Brucie's talent as a presenter as the reason for his apparent screen immortality. Sadly, the truth is that he is really rather bad, doddering about as he does, trying to find the autocue to misread. Harsh words, but they underline a crucial practice that has too long gone unchecked – and not just at the BBC. As Arnold pointed out, there are only a handful of women of a 'certain age and appearance' on our television screens due mainly, she said, to a culture that values women for the 'shape of their legs' over their intellect. 'It's a constant struggle in a culture that prizes looks and youth so highly, but the BBC needs to stand up and say no,' she said. Her old bosses at Radio 4 did not escape unscathed either. Of the Today programme, she said: 'I don't think there are enough female presenters. Out of five broadcasters there is just one; I don't think that is good enough. 'It matters because women are at least 50 per cent of the population and are therefore not being represented. 'Women quite often see things slightly differently from men. To get a female perspective on any topic is important – it should just be balanced.' Perhaps Radio 4 should sit up and take serious notice in the light of the controversy they unleashed back in November, when the Today programme only invited male contributors to take part in a discussion on breast cancer. As well as having a 20-year career as a broadcaster, mostly as a Radio 4 news presenter, Alice Arnold is also the partner of BBC sports presenter Clare Balding, who seems to be a an exception to the 'titivation over talent' rule. But even this, says Ms Arnold, has been a struggle, and it makes her angry that ageism and sexism make it is so difficult for women who aren't young and glamorous to find career longevity, despite their talent. She went on to say that equality was a "constant struggle" in a world which "prizes looks and youth so highly". You don't have to look too far to see the evidence. Last year, the oil painting that is AA Gill truly poked the hornets' nest when he said that Professor Mary Beard, presenter of the BBC's 'Meet The Romans' 'really should be kept away from the cameras altogether.' Clare Balding was one of many voices to sound their displeasure at such public – and somewhat hypocritical – sexism. Interestingly, Balding, as presenter of 'Britain's Brightest', recently replaced Tess Daly as the face of weekend primetime. As Arnold says, she is a very good example of 'breaking the mould through talent and hard work.' We can only hope that this is not a cynical and short term move by the BBC to cash in on Balding’s phenomenal Olympic popularity. Sadly, as Caroline Thompson, the BBC's former Chief Operating Officer, said, there is 'still a long way to go on the equality agenda for women and ageism.'  |
| Birmingham’s lap dancing venues reviewed Posted: 22 Jan 2013 06:00 AM PST
Birmingham has repeatedly been branded the lap dancing capital of the UK. But now the Birmingham Mail has reported that some councillors hope to limit the number of lap dancing clubs in the city by capping the number of sexual entertainment venues (SEVs) at 12. And this restriction idea will form part of a ten week public consultation due to start next month. Labour’s Hodge Hill Ward Councillor Majid Mahmood, a member of the Licensing and Public Protection Committee, has expressed his concern that Birmingham would gain a sleazy reputation similar to London's Soho unless a cap was implemented. "It's about time we limited the number of sexual entertainment venues in this city," he said, adding that he would hate to see Birmingham turn into another Soho. Members of the public will be able to express their views through the council's website. The public consultation is only part of a wider consultation process. Members of Birmingham council's Licensing and Public Protection Committee have until mid-February to suggest amendments to the existing SEV policy. In addition to consulting the public on the existing policy and any proposed amendments, the Council intends to consult stakeholders such as the West Midlands Police and Birmingham's current SEVs. The policy governs how the council licenses and regulates sexual entertainment venues in Birmingham, where all SEVs have had to apply for a licence since January 2011. There are now nine licensed SEVs in Birmingham and the overwhelming majority are lap dancing clubs. There is conflicting research on the impacts of lap dancing clubs and other SEVs (see WVoN story). However, a large body of research indicates SEVs create no-go areas for women. In a 2008 public consultation on the licensing of strip clubs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, women reported being leered at and intimated when walking past the clubs. More worryingly, the United Nations Convention to Eliminate all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has linked the portrayal of women as sex objects by the sex industry to attitudes that underpin violence and discrimination against women. However, it appears that the councillors on Birmingham's Licensing and Public Protection Committee are divided over proposing the 12 club cap. Some reportedly fear that a lack of competition could lead to venues raising their prices, causing customers to lose out. The council has said that it will incorporate the results of the consultation into a revised version of the policy "as far as is practicable". The revised version will be put before the committee in April.  |
| Cricketer could make history this summer Posted: 22 Jan 2013 04:00 AM PST
Sarah Taylor, one of England’s star players, has been issued the invitation with a view to playing for the Second XI during 2013. And an agreement has been reached that if the second team is short of a wicketkeeper, Taylor will step in. She will be playing in the four-day County Championship game, rather than either of the shorter forms, both of which require more power than she is able to demonstrate at this stage. Taylor, 23, is acknowledged as one of women’s cricket’s best ever players: she currently averages an impressive 39.42 from 71 one-day internationals, including four hundreds. But she nearly walked away from the sport for good when she was 21. England had retained the Ashes, and won the World Cup and the World Twenty20, and she saw no further challenge in the sport. But she is now back with a vengeance and ready to work hard. Taylor is by no means the first woman to play for a men’s team in the UK. In 2011, fellow England team-member Arran Brindle, became the first woman to score a century in men’s Premier League cricket when she scored 128 for Louth in the Lincolnshire League. But county cricket is a huge step up from this. National women’s coach, Mark Lane, has been instrumental in championing Taylor’s possible move. As she said in an interview with the Guardian, Taylor is obviously relishing the challenge. “Mark is looking at me getting some games with the Second XI at Sussex and that will just be phenomenal cricket. The plan is also for me to play some early season games for the MCC boys. Mark is trying to get me a lot of men’s cricket which can only help my game.” However, she is also aware that the test will not only be a physical one, but a mental one. “But there’s a part of me doubting myself. I’ve just got to start believing in myself a little bit more. But I would love to do it. “It would be such a challenge – facing a bigger ball and bigger bowlers. But I’d have to look at myself after the Second XI games and say: ‘Can you handle this?’” There is already a queue of nay-sayers waiting for Taylor to fail. Some are predicting the end of the women’s game, some the end of the men’s, some the end of the world… Writing in the Guardian, Selma James wrote, “[Women] have also worked hard to make our game popular and competitive, winning plenty. “It has its own beautiful features; it is an art as well as a mental and physical challenge, and thus a sport with as high an entertainment value as men’s cricket can turn out. “This is also true in tennis, football and more, as increasing audiences make clear. “Isn’t there a danger that it will begin to impoverish the women’s game if the men’s game were to take our stars?” However, Mike Selvey, possibly the best and most respected cricket columnist of recent times, disagrees. He writes in the Guardian that ”if the desire to succeed is there, along with mental strength, there is no better way to improve than stepping out of the comfort zone and challenging at a level above the norm. “The primary aim of Sarah Taylor’s foray into higher levels of men’s cricket is not to prove a point, but to take her phenomenal skills to a new level so that the women’s game will seem that much less demanding. “If she succeeds, she could dominate women’s cricket as none before. “It is certainly my contention that Taylor is the finest of all women cricketers, in that her dual skills as wicketkeeper-batsman are of a standard that might one day allow her to play first class cricket.” Whatever some may say, men’s cricket isn’t ”taking our stars”. Instead, if Taylor does play with Sussex’s men, it will surely be chance to show the stolid (largely male) cricket establishment what women’s talent is all about. It will make more headlines than all England’s tournament wins put together. And yes, this is in itself a ridiculous state of affairs, but we should still grab the opportunity with both hands. Taylor owes it to herself and her career to take every opportunity offered to her, and we should back her all the way. At this moment, Taylor is on her way to India as part of the England squad aiming to retain the World Cup in February. A Sussex summer will seem a long way away. On her return she will face more scrutiny than any woman cricketer has faced before. It will undoubtedly be exciting to find out how this exceptional athlete and ambassador for women’s cricket will fare this summer.  |
| Pixar’s first female director snubbed at Golden Globes Posted: 22 Jan 2013 02:25 AM PST
The press coverage of the 2013 Golden Globe awards mostly revolved around Jodie Foster's 'coming-out' speech, but another successful woman in film was noticeably absent from the awards show as well as the stories surrounding it. Brenda Chapman, the original director of Disney Pixar's hugely successful animated movie 'Brave', revealed on Twitter that while she had been invited to the awards ceremony, she was not invited to go onstage in the event of a win. During the filming of 'Brave', Chapman was removed from her position as director and replaced by her Pixar colleague Mark Andrews. Last week, Brave was indeed awarded the Golden Globe for Best Animated Film – while the woman who scripted the film and worked for 5 years to develop it sat watching at home. The reasons for Chapman's departure from the director’s chair have never been explained beyond 'creative differences'. Despite her impressive CV, which includes writing and animation work on The Lion King, Beauty and The Beast and Chicken Run, she was informed in October 2010 that she would no longer be directing 'Brave'. Mark Andrews took over for the next 18 months and accepted the Golden Globe last Sunday night. Whatever might have led to Chapman’s removal from ‘Brave’, it can not be denied how much heart and soul she must have put into a film she spent half a decade working on, and which she was inspired to write by her relationship with her daughter. Completing 'Brave' would have made Chapman Pixar's first female director, which would have been a great step forward for a company that has been notoriously slow to represent women both on and off screen. John Lasseter, Pixar's chief creative officer, admitted that he failed to include any female characters in his films until his wife asked him to – the result being cowgirl Jessie in Toy Story 2. And 'Brave', revolving around the story of strong, independent archer Merida, was a particularly refreshing film in light of the fact that in 2011, only 11 per cent of Hollywood's top grossing films had female protagonists. So it is a shame that Pixar didn't see fit to break more ground by keeping Brenda Chapman on as director, or allowing her to share the stage at the Golden Globes. Progress is slow for women behind the camera in Hollywood – it wasn't until 2010 that a woman won a 'Best Director' Academy Award (Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker) – and in 2011, women still only comprised 5 per cent of directors in the top-grossing 250 films in the USA. However, the New York Times suggests that progress is occurring, albeit slowly: 2012 saw the percentage of women directing the top 250 grossing films jump to 9 per cent, and it should be noted that, in the final cut of 'Brave', Brenda Chapman did still retain credit as co-director. While most of the media will be focusing on who's wearing what on the red carpet, others will be watching the forthcoming Oscars on 24 February for a very different reason. Now 'Brave' has been nominated in the Best Animation category, fans are speculating whether or not Chapman will attend the ceremony, and – more importantly – whether she will be invited to the stage in the event of a win. Those keen to see more gender parity in film will be hoping that Pixar do not choose to leave Chapman out in the cold.  |
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