Response to "Gender diversity on Sunday news shows"

There was an article in the Washington Post about gender diversity on Sunday news shows. Two dozen women's organizations had collaborated to write a letter to Media Matters for America explaining how they believed it was unfair that women were not being asked to speak on important issues that pertain directly to their gender. "There are qualified women to speak on issues affecting all Americans, including national security, economic growth, climate change, education and many others," the article said.

The article offered statistical information such as the fact that women made up a mere 17 percent of Congress in 2008, a percentage which increased only very slightly in 2013, when women made up 18.3 percent of Congress. For the past decade or so, the percentage of women reporters have been at a deadlock of 38 percent.

The choices of which news stories to cover and which to exclude from daily publications have bias in and of themselves. For example, there are some stories that only women would think to publish, like stories advocating equal pay for women in the workplace, or women's health, or family counseling. This is why it is necessary to have women in the newsrooms. While I don't agree with replacing perfectly adequate males in some professions with women just for the sake of creating more diversity, I do think it necessary to have the voice of women heard loud enough for the world to understand that there are two sides to each story--from the men's perspective and the women's. I think the solution is not to get rid of the already existing spots occupied by males, but rather to create more room for the women to freely utilize their capabilities in each profession.