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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff Mom Never told You from how stupp

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Speaker 1: works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: Kristen and I'm Caroline. And the forecast for this episode

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Speaker 1: calls for weather puns. Have we got news for you?

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Speaker 1: You've better listen. Anybody you've heard it's raining men at

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Speaker 1: the beginning of that song and someone out there is laughing.

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Speaker 1: I know it, and it's sung by the weather Girls, right, correct.

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Speaker 1: But we're not talking about the Weather Girls, the singing group.

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Speaker 1: We're talking about meteorologists who are sick of being called

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Speaker 1: weather girls. Um. We received this request on Facebook from

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Speaker 1: listener Sarah, who asked if we could do an episode

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Speaker 1: on women in meteorology, and I mean with that alone.

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Speaker 1: I was like, oh, of course, women and stem we

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Speaker 1: love that totally, she said. Specifically, broadcast meteorologists, we're called

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Speaker 1: weather girls all the time. This can be particularly frustrating

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Speaker 1: and demeaning because the majority of us are hardcore scientists.

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Speaker 1: Plus we are subject to ridicule all the time for

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Speaker 1: our makeup and outfit choices. Either we're not pretty enough

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Speaker 1: or too slutty. You may remember a viral video of

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Speaker 1: a meteorologist being handed a jacket by her co anchor

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Speaker 1: to quote cover up on live television, and yes, we

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Speaker 1: will talk about that. If you're pregnant, just forget it.

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Speaker 1: People hate to see a quote unquote prego on air

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Speaker 1: and will not hesitate to body shame us. What's great, though,

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Speaker 1: is that we have an excellent community of female broadcast

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Speaker 1: meteorologists who support each other. ABC News is chief meteorologists.

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Speaker 1: Ginger z is a total science badass and refuses to

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Speaker 1: be called a weather girl. It would be so interesting

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Speaker 1: to hear a sminty take on the topic. Well how

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Speaker 1: could we resist? I mean, because really this topic has

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Speaker 1: it all. We've got women's scientists, we've got a body shaming,

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Speaker 1: we've got double standards, we've got people being weird about

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Speaker 1: seeing pregnant women in public, which we've talked about on

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Speaker 1: the podcast before. So, Sarah, this one goes to you

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Speaker 1: and all the other weather broadcasters out there listening. Um,

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Speaker 1: And just a little note before we dive in. The

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Speaker 1: lingo can be kind of confusing because meteorologists are scientists

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Speaker 1: who may or may not also be weather people or

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Speaker 1: Weatherman weather casters. Whether Bill Weatherman is and Bill Weatherman's

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Speaker 1: our professional broadcasters, we should say al rokers maybe are

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Speaker 1: a professional broadcasters and communicators who may or may not

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Speaker 1: be scientists. And for another wrinkle on this whole thing,

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Speaker 1: there's no legal definition of a meteorologist, so the real

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Speaker 1: deal weather scientists will be certified by the American Meteorological Society.

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Speaker 1: So from right out of the gate, we have this

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Speaker 1: uh confusion, this blurring of the lines between science and

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Speaker 1: the presentation of science by entertainers and for entertainment. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and let me tell you, dude, I took a weather

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Speaker 1: and climate class in college taught by a rather unkind

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Speaker 1: gentleman who looked like if Um Andy Warhole dressed like

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Speaker 1: Carl Sagan, so he looked like Bill Weatherman, Bill Weatherman Um,

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Speaker 1: And it was hard. I almost did not pass that class.

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Speaker 1: When I was a kid, during homeschool, I got hardcore

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Speaker 1: into weather and making like homemade barometers and stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: I remember there was something with a mason jar and

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Speaker 1: a balloon, and I was so excited to learn with

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Speaker 1: the different types of clouds meant all because of this,

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Speaker 1: uh this book my mom got me about like Benjamin

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Speaker 1: Franklin and how you can become a d i y meteorologist.

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Speaker 1: For you, Nancy getting you good books about weather. She

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Speaker 1: was an excellent homeschooler. Um, So this this topic. Even

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Speaker 1: though I didn't pursue meteorology in a serious kind of way.

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Speaker 1: I did never took a meteorology class in college, It's

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Speaker 1: still a topic that is near and dear to my

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Speaker 1: childhood heart. But to dive into this conversation, we're actually

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Speaker 1: not going to start by talking about the weather, but

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Speaker 1: rather what a twenty three dollar dress on Amazon taught

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Speaker 1: us about weather casting, sexism, twist. Yeah, so apparently there's

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Speaker 1: this dress that exists. No, it does. It's not apparently

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Speaker 1: it really does. Um that will out of weather forecasters

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Speaker 1: on TV wear uh and St. Louis meteorologist Briefe Smith

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Speaker 1: and Angela Hutty accidentally started this trend um or at

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Speaker 1: least tipped off the internet to how challenging it can

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Speaker 1: be to dress for predicting the weather, which all ties

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Speaker 1: in to this one dress that apparently every weathercaster forecaster has. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so it's it's still on Amazon. By the way I

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Speaker 1: looked at it, I considered buying one because it is

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Speaker 1: universally flattering. It's the home Ye women's stretch tunic pencil

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Speaker 1: sheath dress so many words. Yes, uh, and it comes

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Speaker 1: in rainbow of colors, and all of this is important,

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Speaker 1: the whole sheath style. Um. It has banding like black

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Speaker 1: silhouetting along the sides. That's very slimming. Um. And it's

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Speaker 1: only twenty three dollars. So all of us is adding

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Speaker 1: up to it being ideal, especially for a lot of

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Speaker 1: broadcast meteorologists who don't receive a wardrobe budget. They have

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Speaker 1: to dress themselves and sometimes like do their own makeup

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Speaker 1: as well. Um. And I was interested to go on

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Speaker 1: Amazon and see whether there were weather casters on there

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Speaker 1: who had bought the dress commenting about it, and indeed,

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Speaker 1: Caroline there were. Yeah. So reviewer Amanda says that she

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Speaker 1: works on TV and is always looking for a good

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Speaker 1: quality dress at an affordable price. And she talks about

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Speaker 1: how this dress in particular is a nice thickness for

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Speaker 1: fall and winter, but could be worn in any season,

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Speaker 1: and that she got it in four different colors. Um.

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Speaker 1: And I mean these women who were reviewing the dress,

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Speaker 1: we're talking about how flattering it is. Kimmy Uh says,

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Speaker 1: you know, we can't have busy prints at work. It's

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Speaker 1: not too short. The three quarter length is great. Uh,

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Speaker 1: she says, many of my colleagues also love this dress.

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Speaker 1: In fact, it's been coined the weather anchor dress since

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Speaker 1: so many meteor I'll just have it smiley face emoticon.

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Speaker 1: And when the news about this tree doll dress went

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Speaker 1: viral online, uh, someone made a terrific collage of local

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Speaker 1: weather casters all wearing the dress, like different colors of

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Speaker 1: the dress and all looking famulous in it. But Kimmy's

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Speaker 1: comment also points to this fine line that you have

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Speaker 1: to work if you are a woman on screen. Um,

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Speaker 1: where it's not too short, so there's that line between

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Speaker 1: being like, you can't can't be ugly, but you can't

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Speaker 1: be slutty. Um it has sleeves because good god, women's

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Speaker 1: bare arms are just always targets. Uh are terrified of

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Speaker 1: arms of scrutiny. Yes, um, and it doesn't show much cleavage,

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Speaker 1: but it's still a very feminine looking dress. So little

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Speaker 1: did I know how much gendered not on sense, how

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Speaker 1: much baggage that you have to juggle when you are

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Speaker 1: simply standing in front of a green screen trying to

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Speaker 1: deliver the weather news. Well, I mean this year in

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Speaker 1: meteorologist Liberty chan out at k l T A which

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Speaker 1: serves the l A area, had to wear a cocktail

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Speaker 1: dress in a pinch on screen, which I can't imagine

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Speaker 1: cocktail dresses being not much different from like any other

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Speaker 1: dress that is worn on camera. But the audience freaked out.

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Speaker 1: They totally had a pearl clutching moment, and I mean

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Speaker 1: Twitter was all over this. So and this is the

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Speaker 1: incident that listener Sarah referenced with the viral video of

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Speaker 1: the weather girl in quotes being handed a cardigan because Okay,

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Speaker 1: she's wearing a cocktail dress. It does look out of place,

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Speaker 1: but it's not an im modest dress. It's uh tank cut,

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Speaker 1: so she's showing her arms. It's a scoop neck, but

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Speaker 1: there's not a lot of cleavage, and it's not too short.

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Speaker 1: It like comes up slightly above the knees. It's just

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Speaker 1: like especially sparkly, and you know, it looks it looks

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Speaker 1: like she forgot her actual dress or it looks like

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Speaker 1: she like overslept and just ran out the door. And

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Speaker 1: the thing that she was wearing two drinks the night before.

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Speaker 1: And what happens is the pearl clutching starts where they

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Speaker 1: start hearing from people actually watching the TV freaking out, saying,

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Speaker 1: cover that woman up, Oh what was that slot doing?

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Speaker 1: And so then you see her co anchor, who is

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Speaker 1: a guy his arm coming out with uh, disembodied arm

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Speaker 1: holding a card again, and she sees it. Of course,

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Speaker 1: you know, her segment is being interrupted. She isn't exactly

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Speaker 1: sure what's happening, and he says, you need to put

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Speaker 1: this on, need to cover up, And she's dumbfounded at

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Speaker 1: first and asked, are you serious? And you can't see him,

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Speaker 1: but it's clear that he's yeah, seriously, um, And so

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Speaker 1: she puts the sweater on, you know, looking as you

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Speaker 1: might expect she would look, you know, like she's just

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Speaker 1: been sort of insulted, sludge shamed essentially on live air.

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Speaker 1: And it was the handing of the card again that

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Speaker 1: through Twitter up in a tizzy because they were reacting

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Speaker 1: to something completely different than the broadcast audience was reacting to.

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Speaker 1: You know. So now I had heard and correct me,

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Speaker 1: because I I saw this happen and was totally dumbfounded

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Speaker 1: by it. But I had also heard somewhere that this

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Speaker 1: was some sort of gimmick, that it wasn't real, that

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Speaker 1: that she was in on it. Maybe, So I mean,

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Speaker 1: she got a lot of media attention for it, and

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Speaker 1: insisted that it was not sexism on behalf of her

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Speaker 1: co anchor, that it was the network responding to in

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Speaker 1: real time, um, these complaints that they were getting. UM

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Speaker 1: So she would have she disagrees with the Twitter outrage

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Speaker 1: that she was being subjected to sexism, But I mean

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Speaker 1: that's just one incident of so many, because you really

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Speaker 1: have to arm yourself against a weekly barrage of appearance

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Speaker 1: based criticisms if you are a female broadcast meteorologist and

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Speaker 1: thats St. Louis meteorologist that we mentioned earlier, Angela Hottie

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Speaker 1: told St. Louis Magazine, I get told that you should

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Speaker 1: go on a diet, you don't belong on TV, you

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Speaker 1: need to cut your hair differently. Um. Sometimes you kind

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Speaker 1: of laugh off the comments, and other times it stings

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Speaker 1: and you start to wonder, am I making the wrong

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Speaker 1: decision and what I'm wearing? And you know that at

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Speaker 1: that point, Like we're not very far into this episode, Kristen,

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Speaker 1: but I just want to like throw my notes up

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Speaker 1: in the air and storm out, because like, how is

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Speaker 1: that anyone's business? Why this doesn't affect you? Like you're

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Speaker 1: seeing a woman on television talking, oh my god, why

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Speaker 1: do you care what she's wearing? And I wonder if

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Speaker 1: they receive way more of this kind of sexist critique

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Speaker 1: compared to news anchors, because typically for a news anchor,

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Speaker 1: you only see them from the waist up, um, whereas

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Speaker 1: you see a weather caster's full body, you know. So

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Speaker 1: it's just double the room to judge and to pick

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Speaker 1: apart um. And another thing too that I'm realizing is

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Speaker 1: I'm saying this is uh, Fox News has a very

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Speaker 1: particular style of their anchors, like not even weather but

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Speaker 1: just like any any woman on Fox News is usually

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Speaker 1: showing some cleave, heavily made up um. And that's okay.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what the difference is, is what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: There's just there's a bizarre double standard within a double

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Speaker 1: standard applied to weather usters in particular. And it's something

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Speaker 1: that started from the get go. Yeah. Even the BBC's

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Speaker 1: first female presenter, Barbara Edwards back in four had to

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Speaker 1: deal with this stuff. Uh. She said that occasionally I

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Speaker 1: received letters from people criticizing my dress since and you've

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Speaker 1: got to love that, right, because it takes so much

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Speaker 1: more energy to write a letter and mail it than

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Speaker 1: it does to either write a tweet and hit s end,

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Speaker 1: or just like, if you're really going to go for it,

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Speaker 1: pick up the phone, she said. One woman complained that

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Speaker 1: someone of my age or shouldn't wear tank tops. There's

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Speaker 1: that bear arms, the bear arms issue. Oh yeah, thirty

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Speaker 1: five those thirty five year old arms. Oh god forbid,

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Speaker 1: Why are we still so hung up on arms? This

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Speaker 1: reminds me to Michelle Obama. Oh no, no, this I

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Speaker 1: mean in terms of people, there's people complain about Michelle

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Speaker 1: Obama's arms that she has the goal to show them.

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Speaker 1: I know. Still somehow after eight years and there's impeccable

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Speaker 1: people get with it. Michelle Obama is amazing, so where

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Speaker 1: her arms? Just get over it? But there is a

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Speaker 1: bizarre hang up for women's exposed arms of any shade

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Speaker 1: um Also, though, this reminds me quick tangent time that

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Speaker 1: Theresa May, the new British Prime Minister, caught so much

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Speaker 1: shade a few weeks back for wearing a dress to

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Speaker 1: an event that showed her knees and people said her

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Speaker 1: bare knees to mind you, and people said that women

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Speaker 1: have knees. I right, what people who were complaining though

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Speaker 1: that it was inappropriate and undignified. Do they do these

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Speaker 1: people not live in the world, do they not like see? No,

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Speaker 1: that that's a thing, Caroline. They do live in the world,

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Speaker 1: you know, and the world is shockingly hateful of women's bodies.

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Speaker 1: They literally pick us apart. And that, friends, is what

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Speaker 1: objectification means. So back to the weather, God help you

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Speaker 1: if you're pregnant. Oh yeah, big time. We actually touched

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Speaker 1: on this topic back in our Maternity Where episode because

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Speaker 1: in in that episode, which sure it was geared toward

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Speaker 1: fashion and fashion history, but you can't separate fashion and

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Speaker 1: fashion history from women's bodies and people's opinions of them

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Speaker 1: so often, and we did talk about how pregnant either

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Speaker 1: newscasters or weather forecasters are frequently subject to people's reprehensible

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Speaker 1: uh criticisms. Uh. So in Katie Failinger of CBS three

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Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, she's a meteorologist, um had to endure pregnancy

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Speaker 1: related criticism throughout her entire pregnancy. People were freaking out

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Speaker 1: basically that she was still working while visibly pregnant. So

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Speaker 1: she she got all sorts of criticism from not only

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Speaker 1: being like, oh my god, I can see your baby bump,

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Speaker 1: you're a disgusting pregnant woman. It also like you should

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Speaker 1: be at home having a family, not working. And she

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Speaker 1: addressed all of this on Facebook twice because it just

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Speaker 1: didn't stop. Really like the larger her pregnant belly grew,

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Speaker 1: the larger the viewer outrage. So she's pregnant with twin girls,

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Speaker 1: by the way, so she's going to have a big belly. Um.

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Speaker 1: But at thirty three weeks she really started getting it,

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Speaker 1: and the first time around on Facebook because a lot

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Speaker 1: of this, a lot of these comments now are generated

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Speaker 1: on Facebook. On the you know, CBS three or like

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Speaker 1: whatever the channel is. Uh, they all have Facebook pages

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Speaker 1: and this is where people now come. Rather than writing

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Speaker 1: ye old letters, uh, they go to ye old Facebook

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Speaker 1: and say terrible things. Um. So she wrote, I know

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Speaker 1: many of you are concerned that I'm still working this

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Speaker 1: quote unquote late in pregnancy, but as I write this,

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Speaker 1: I'm thirty three weeks, one day into the journey. While

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Speaker 1: I do intend to take a full of weeks of

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Speaker 1: leave once our girls arrive, I'm also trying not to

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Speaker 1: eat away at that time before they're born unless my

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Speaker 1: doctor feels it's necessary. And the fact that she feels

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Speaker 1: compelled to even have to share this personal information just

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Speaker 1: to get people to stop talking about her body and

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Speaker 1: pay attention to what she's doing, which is her job.

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Speaker 1: But they didn't stop. It's so sad. Oh yeah, and

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Speaker 1: then it got worse. It got worse as she went

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Speaker 1: further along in her pregnancy, and two weeks later, at

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Speaker 1: thirty five weeks pregnant, she did take some time to

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Speaker 1: respond to the horrendous body shaming that she was experiencing,

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Speaker 1: and what she told Yaho Parenting just broke my freaking heart,

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Speaker 1: she said. The one that came in about the sausage

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Speaker 1: and casing, that one upset me the most. I didn't respond.

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Speaker 1: I tried to move on, but it really hurt my feelings.

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Speaker 1: Then I got another one this week about looking disgusting,

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Speaker 1: and a switch flipped for me. I had a moment

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Speaker 1: of clarity. I didn't get embarrassed or hurt. I got

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Speaker 1: fed up. So, you know, don't make the meteorologist angry, right, like,

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Speaker 1: stop with your useless body shaming. You're useless criticism. Who

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Speaker 1: do you think you are? Why do you get to

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Speaker 1: be so entitled as to tell someone else what you

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Speaker 1: think about their appearance? When it has nothing to do

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Speaker 1: with you, because women, because women are valued for their appearance, unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: and in a patriarchal society. UM also talk to Minnesota

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Speaker 1: meteorologist Sending Morgan about it. She experienced a similar thing

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Speaker 1: when she was pregnant, especially with people complaining that her

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Speaker 1: clothes were too tight. Yeah, and that definitely goes back

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Speaker 1: to our maternity were episode because we talked a lot

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Speaker 1: about how, in terms of fashion trends, pregnant women don't

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Speaker 1: really want to go for the Princess die voluminous dress

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Speaker 1: look anymore. People want to still dress like themselves, whether

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Speaker 1: they're pregnant or not, and that will involve wearing a dress.

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Speaker 1: Yes that maybe it's stretchy and it stretches over your

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Speaker 1: belly and for some reason that sends people into an outrage. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: some some people will react as if it's vulgar. Meteorologist

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Speaker 1: Christie Gordon of British Columbia's Global News Network also addressed

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Speaker 1: her pregnantcy haters on air, which is a total badass

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Speaker 1: move UM, because she was dealing with people saying things like,

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Speaker 1: buy some decent clothes and have more respect for your

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Speaker 1: unborn child. You're not the first pregnant woman looser tops

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Speaker 1: would look much more professional. And seriously, we could just

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Speaker 1: spend the next two hours plus reading terrible things that

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Speaker 1: people have said about women, especially pregnant women meteorologists like

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Speaker 1: you know that whole people read mean tweets, gimmick. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you can make a whole other show about you know,

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Speaker 1: meteorologists read awful things. People say them. Yes, yeah, but

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Speaker 1: I mean it's it's nothing new, and that's a surprise

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Speaker 1: exactly no one who listens to this podcast. There has

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Speaker 1: always been disproportionate attention paid to female weathercasters appearances, and

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Speaker 1: we're gonna get into that when we come right back

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Speaker 1: from a quick break. So the history of broadcast meteorology

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Speaker 1: is a whimsical one because before we became obsessed with

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Speaker 1: women weather casters beauty and fashion and physique, we just

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Speaker 1: wanted to have a good time. We've always apparently wanted

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Speaker 1: something really cute to look at to tell us whether

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Speaker 1: it's going to rain that day. Um. And there was

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Speaker 1: sort of a mini history about this over at the

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Speaker 1: New York Times, which reported that on October ninety one,

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Speaker 1: w NBT, which is the forerunner to NBC, broadcast the

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Speaker 1: first hell avised weather report starring an animated cartoon character

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Speaker 1: named Wooly Lamb. Well, first of all, like the creativity

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Speaker 1: in that name is sorely lacking. Yeah, I mean, before

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Speaker 1: we had human people telling us the weather, we had

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Speaker 1: like sock puppets and animations. I imagine Lamb Chop and

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Speaker 1: Sherry Lewis doing doing their bit, uh, reporting the weather,

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Speaker 1: and honestly, I wouldn't mind that. I'm doing my hardest

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Speaker 1: not to get the Lamb Chop theme song stuck in

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Speaker 1: my head. Don't say it. Yes, let's move along quickly, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: there was a brief post war period when we had

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Speaker 1: military veterans, meteorology professors and former U. S. Weather Bureau

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Speaker 1: personnel who would deliver some somber forecast so less the

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Speaker 1: cute see Wooly Lamb stuff and more like it's going

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Speaker 1: to rain today, there's a low pressure system rising in

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Speaker 1: the east. Actually, Geffrey so. And then by the time

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Speaker 1: we had the fifties, people are like, this is It's

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Speaker 1: like that would be better? Bill Weatherman is really creeping

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Speaker 1: me out. Why is he breathing like that? And also

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Speaker 1: a sign of the times too, you know, nineteen fifties

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Speaker 1: loved some lady eye candy come on the bullets of

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Speaker 1: back Home. Yeah, there's this paper we were reading fascinating

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Speaker 1: called weather Girls on the Big Screen Stereotypes, sex appeal

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Speaker 1: in science. It was published in by the American Meteorological Society.

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Speaker 1: What so many syllables, um? But yeah, in the in

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Speaker 1: the fifties, we start getting weather girls, um, which was

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Speaker 1: just a rating schimmick. They they wanted to boost ratings

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Speaker 1: by hiring female eye candy to report the weather. They

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Speaker 1: weren't meteorologists, they were just they're pretty. They were pretty.

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Speaker 1: And you know what this sounds exactly like that was

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Speaker 1: happening around the exact same time our Flight Attendant episode. Yes,

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Speaker 1: using pretty women to get people on planes. And one

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Speaker 1: person who was a walking gimmick was Raquel ta Hata,

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Speaker 1: who you might know as Raquel Welsh. She got her

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Speaker 1: start as the Sun Up weather girl. Yeah, weather girl.

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Speaker 1: Who doesn't love to be called a weather girl? Right?

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Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong with that. It's not like it objectifies

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Speaker 1: anyone or highlights a presumed lack of knowledge and experience

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Speaker 1: or anything or whatever. You know, Oh yeah, not at all,

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Speaker 1: not at all. So that paper that Caroline decided describes

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Speaker 1: how weather girl. That term that that Sarah our listener

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Speaker 1: also you know hate so much and you know clearly,

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Speaker 1: clearly is still a thing. Weather girl epitomized their objectification

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Speaker 1: and presumed lack of scientific training. Quote. The clear emphasis

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Speaker 1: on looks and style among many weather girls coincided with

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Speaker 1: public skepticism of women's scientific skills, with programmers eagerness to

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Speaker 1: trivialize the weather cast. So meteorologists are just getting thrown

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Speaker 1: under the bus along with female intellect, right, and you

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Speaker 1: put all that together and you get weather girls. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and it's that's still we we are still seeing the

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Speaker 1: ripple effects of that today. I mean that the same

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Speaker 1: time that we get female weather casters. I almost said

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Speaker 1: we mail feather casters. Um, that's from the beginning. The

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Speaker 1: the pooh pooing of women's intelligence and the assumption that

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Speaker 1: they are just there to be eye candy and titilation

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Speaker 1: for a board audience was coinciding with the dawn of

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Speaker 1: that as even a career. Yeah, it's still, as you

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Speaker 1: could tell from Sarah's episode request, it's still affects, negatively

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Speaker 1: effects the credibility of female meteorologists. Broadcas ask meteorologists, I

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Speaker 1: should say Um, and this is a problem for us watching,

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Speaker 1: especially in events of dangerous weather. Yea, because if just

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Speaker 1: like a weather girl is telling you a tornado is coming, like,

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Speaker 1: are you likelier to take action? Or if Bill Weatherman

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Speaker 1: comes on, I mean it's turtleneck pulled up all the

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Speaker 1: way to his eyes. Then you know, Bill Weatherman tells

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Speaker 1: you a tornado is coming, then you're like, well, we'd

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Speaker 1: better pack up and drive somewhere. Actually, I don't know

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Speaker 1: what you're supposed to do to tornado. I just realized,

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Speaker 1: seek shelter. Okay, cool? Don't drive? Yeah, yeah, do not

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Speaker 1: do not drive. You don't know what we've all seen

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Speaker 1: the movie Twister. You don't know when a cow is

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Speaker 1: going to get lodged in your windshield, you know. And

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Speaker 1: quick side note, I was hoping that Twister would come

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Speaker 1: up in this. But Helen Hunt was not a weather

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Speaker 1: girl because she was a producer, right, she was behind

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Speaker 1: the scenes us in the storm. She was a storm chaser, meteorologist,

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Speaker 1: scientist person, which is a whole other topic. Um. But

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Speaker 1: in the history of broadcast meteorology, there is sort of

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Speaker 1: an original weather girl. Yeah. In nineteen fifty two, we

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Speaker 1: get Carol read Yeah, she's the first female weathercaster hired

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Speaker 1: in a major market. Wait. She has described as having

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Speaker 1: no qualifications aside from a cheerful manner and a knack

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Speaker 1: for communications. So she debuted in nineteen fifty two at

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Speaker 1: just twenty six years old, and while she had no

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Speaker 1: like weather predicting or meteorological qualifications, for twelve years she

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Speaker 1: was on air at w CBS in New York smiling

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Speaker 1: brightly and what did she had a tagline or something,

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Speaker 1: had a signature sign off, have a happy and you're like,

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Speaker 1: have a happy Carol, and it's already like cut back

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Speaker 1: to the anchor desk. So maybe because listeners became so confused,

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Speaker 1: she finally got the ax um in actuality, though she

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Speaker 1: was swiftly fired around the time when broadcast started taking

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Speaker 1: meteorology more seriously. I've never heard that pattern of events before. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So they were like, oh, Carol, you have a happy too,

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Speaker 1: and by happy I mean life. Yeah. And there was

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Speaker 1: this Life magazine spread called weather Work for Women, which

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Speaker 1: basically just highlighted the frivolity of this weather girl character.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean, it's delightful to see because these

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Speaker 1: weather girls are having so much fun. Um. But all

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Speaker 1: it is are just attractive white young women, very slim,

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Speaker 1: very conventionally pretty, smiling and uh. One of the sort

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Speaker 1: of any stories within that photo essay, it was of

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Speaker 1: an audition for a weather reporting job because they needed

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Speaker 1: no scientific training at all. They just needed to be

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Speaker 1: the most charming, so you have I think it was

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Speaker 1: like three girls who were competing for this weather reporting

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Speaker 1: job by putting on their best smiles. But it also

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Speaker 1: noted too how the tide had turned against weather men. Um,

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Speaker 1: and the guys were also using gimmicks. There was a dude,

425
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:35,040
Speaker 1: I think you had, like a ventriloquist dummy or something.

426
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 1: Get out of here. Yeah, yeah, no, I won't. I

427
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,360
Speaker 1: have to stay here. It's my job. But they were

428
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:47,360
Speaker 1: saying that weather men were much less popular now than

429
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:51,480
Speaker 1: these chipper attractive weather girls. And I have to read

430
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:54,880
Speaker 1: a couple of the captions just because they're too good

431
00:28:54,920 --> 00:29:00,480
Speaker 1: not to quote. The first one, Tippy String, which best

432
00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:04,360
Speaker 1: name of the podcast so far. Tippy String of w

433
00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:08,080
Speaker 1: r C has created a cartoon character Senator fair Weather

434
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,239
Speaker 1: who here reports flowers in hand that spring is on

435
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:16,280
Speaker 1: the way, Senator fair Weather. But the worst caption really

436
00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:19,200
Speaker 1: summing up the weather girls stereotype at the time, which

437
00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 1: is in reference to the girls auditioning for that that

438
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:27,200
Speaker 1: one reporting job is quote. Since the girls didn't know

439
00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 1: an isobar from a low pressure area, the station hired

440
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:37,080
Speaker 1: a meteorologist to tell them what they were talking about.

441
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:46,400
Speaker 1: Kristen's faith. It's hilarious, slee depressing um. And then in

442
00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:52,120
Speaker 1: six in Science News you have a quote whether pretty

443
00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:56,600
Speaker 1: girls or trained weather men should present television weather casts?

444
00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 1: Long the subject of private discussions among weather men is

445
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:05,200
Speaker 1: now being openly debated. All those bills weathermen, yes, are

446
00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:09,040
Speaker 1: debating what should happen with the pretty girls? Right? So,

447
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:14,000
Speaker 1: right there you have a complete dismissal that a pretty

448
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 1: girl could even possess that kind of scientific knowledge, and uh,

449
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:20,160
Speaker 1: you know, shouldn't should Maybe it be men doing this

450
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,600
Speaker 1: job well? And it's no surprise then that on the

451
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:24,760
Speaker 1: heels of a discussion or a debate like that, you

452
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:30,080
Speaker 1: should have questions about how do we legitimize this profession,

453
00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:32,200
Speaker 1: how do we ensure that there is a good quality?

454
00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:36,400
Speaker 1: And in nineteen fifty seven, the American Meteorological Society initiates

455
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:41,320
Speaker 1: its Seal of Approval program to basically try to class

456
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:44,960
Speaker 1: up the joints. So that's great, but it wasn't until

457
00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 1: December nineteen seventy two that a woman even earned that seal,

458
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,640
Speaker 1: and one hundred and ninety seven out of the first

459
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:55,760
Speaker 1: two hundred seals went to men, and part of that

460
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: is probably due to, you know, the numbers of men

461
00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:03,560
Speaker 1: who were going to college and studying meteorology, you know,

462
00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:08,280
Speaker 1: I mean that's the seal of approval. Um. I wasn't

463
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,880
Speaker 1: developed to exclude women, but it went to people who

464
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 1: had the right credentials to be a trained meteorologist exactly.

465
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 1: And even today we see a gender gap, with women

466
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:24,640
Speaker 1: weather casters holding just fourteen percent of the a m

467
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:29,760
Speaker 1: S Certified Broadcast Meteorologist credentials UM. And part of that

468
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:32,320
Speaker 1: too is that they, you know, the a m S

469
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:37,000
Speaker 1: is not messing around. UM. It's tough to get certified

470
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,560
Speaker 1: as it as it should be. UM. So by nineteen

471
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:47,120
Speaker 1: sixty one, though an estimated of TV stations across the

472
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:51,160
Speaker 1: US employed a weather girl. We are just it's rain

473
00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:54,680
Speaker 1: and weather girls in the sixties. Um. Yeah. And in

474
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:59,720
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty Diane white clad O in St. Louis transitions

475
00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:04,760
Speaker 1: from radio and live entertainment to become America's first black

476
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:09,520
Speaker 1: weather girl, and claud I did face as you might expect,

477
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:13,400
Speaker 1: racist harassment from viewers, but she ended up reporting the

478
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,280
Speaker 1: weather for twelve years for them before transitioning to hard news.

479
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:21,440
Speaker 1: And even today, black female weather casters are relatively rare

480
00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:23,480
Speaker 1: to see, and we're gonna talk a little bit about

481
00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:27,640
Speaker 1: that later in the show. Um, but I specifically wanted

482
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:31,840
Speaker 1: to seek out with this whole weather girl conversation, Um

483
00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:40,520
Speaker 1: weather Gosh, there were black women who were also delivering

484
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,080
Speaker 1: the weather at this time, and and we did find

485
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,160
Speaker 1: Diane white clad. Oh. But then once we get into

486
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:50,720
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies, things get more serious, and we're going

487
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 1: to talk about what that means when we come right

488
00:32:52,920 --> 00:33:06,920
Speaker 1: back from a quick break. So Caroline on stuff Mom

489
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:12,160
Speaker 1: never told you. Serious is often a synonym for what

490
00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:19,320
Speaker 1: uh serious, dootage. Yes, becoming male dominated. When things become professionalized,

491
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:23,040
Speaker 1: it typically means they're becoming more male dominated as well. Yes,

492
00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:27,200
Speaker 1: a serious equals dootage. And that's what you start to

493
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:30,680
Speaker 1: see in the nineties seventies when you do have more

494
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:34,400
Speaker 1: professional meteorologists, a lot of whom at the time were men.

495
00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:38,840
Speaker 1: This is a stem field after all, um, and they

496
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,520
Speaker 1: swept in, so to speak, and started taking over the

497
00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:47,440
Speaker 1: broadcasts from these cheerful, entertaining women. And obviously it wasn't

498
00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:53,720
Speaker 1: just male meteorologists storming the gates of local TV stations, um,

499
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:55,960
Speaker 1: even suring the Walking deads. I know, even though that

500
00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:59,440
Speaker 1: would be kind of incredible and I would watch that

501
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:05,320
Speaker 1: on Burgundy starring film. Um, But even even though this

502
00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:09,919
Speaker 1: is the time when women's liberation and second wave feminism

503
00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:15,920
Speaker 1: is kicking up, we couldn't liberate female meteorologists, even the

504
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 1: serious female meteorologist from this weather girl stereotype. Well yeah,

505
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 1: because local news was become or you know, national morning

506
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,920
Speaker 1: news was just becoming more of like a happy talk

507
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:32,960
Speaker 1: kind of place where you've got you know, the smiley hosts,

508
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:36,560
Speaker 1: the Katie Courics, the early Katie Courics, um, who were

509
00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:41,279
Speaker 1: all about that chipper morning talk. And so the weathercaster

510
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:44,360
Speaker 1: was sort of part and parcel, kind of like our roker,

511
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:49,640
Speaker 1: you know, or or what's his name, Wilfred Scott before him,

512
00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:54,280
Speaker 1: a Willard Willard Scott. Yes, but they weren't weather girls.

513
00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:57,760
Speaker 1: You know. Why didn't the chipper guys have a nickname too,

514
00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:03,960
Speaker 1: like like a weather gin or something. Um. But here's

515
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:09,520
Speaker 1: the thing. Ambitious women had wizened up to this weather

516
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:13,800
Speaker 1: girl trap, and for a lot of them, they started

517
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 1: to see it, especially if they wanted a long term

518
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:20,440
Speaker 1: career in just broadcast news. They saw the weather girl

519
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:25,600
Speaker 1: as a stepping stone to the anchor desk. So, for instance,

520
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:30,560
Speaker 1: Diane Sawyer endured this superficial morning chatter as a way

521
00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:35,000
Speaker 1: to segue to anchoring the whole shebang. Yeah, but Barbara

522
00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:38,800
Speaker 1: Walters was not all about that. She flat out refused

523
00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:40,920
Speaker 1: to be a weather girl because she basically considered it

524
00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:47,600
Speaker 1: a cheap trick on TV and uh, cheapening of women's skills.

525
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,279
Speaker 1: Well yeah, and she also didn't want to be sexually objectified.

526
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:51,960
Speaker 1: That was the thing too, of like, I don't want

527
00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:53,440
Speaker 1: to be seen as an object if I'm trying to

528
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:57,239
Speaker 1: make my way into this more serious field. And one

529
00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:00,840
Speaker 1: telling quote comes from June Bacon burr See, who was

530
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 1: the first black woman to receive one of those American

531
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:08,480
Speaker 1: Meteorological Society Seals of approval. That's hard to say, so,

532
00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:12,920
Speaker 1: especially if I had to say that in front of

533
00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:16,440
Speaker 1: a green screen to a live audience. Um, but Bacon

534
00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:19,760
Speaker 1: Bercy said, quote, I did not want to do weather

535
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:23,480
Speaker 1: on television only because at that time, in the seventies,

536
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:26,840
Speaker 1: I felt it was still gimmicky for women, and I

537
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:30,560
Speaker 1: didn't want to prostitute my profession by being some kind

538
00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:35,720
Speaker 1: of clown. Harsh words. Sure, I mean prostitute your profession.

539
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:39,640
Speaker 1: I mean, and I think that especially judging by um,

540
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:44,320
Speaker 1: what our stuff Mom never told you. A listener mentioned

541
00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:47,680
Speaker 1: that there's still sort of a similar feeling. Well, yeah,

542
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:50,480
Speaker 1: and then you have to trait meteorologist Maryland Turner, who

543
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:54,279
Speaker 1: was talking to Parade magazine back in nineteen and even

544
00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:56,799
Speaker 1: back then she was saying, I don't believe anyone over

545
00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:59,440
Speaker 1: twenty one should be called a girl. You don't call

546
00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:05,839
Speaker 1: a man weather boy. Roker is not a weather boy. No, no, Well,

547
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,319
Speaker 1: and in the eighties we start to see some technological

548
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:13,200
Speaker 1: advancements around weather casting, so it gets even more advanced

549
00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:16,560
Speaker 1: and more professionalized. You start to see the green screens,

550
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:21,400
Speaker 1: the Doppler radar graphics, and the launch of the weather Channel,

551
00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:26,319
Speaker 1: which offers basically new respect for the weather caster as

552
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:29,000
Speaker 1: a scientist, as someone who's going to predict what your

553
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:32,879
Speaker 1: weekend picnic weather will be. Like. Um, I for one

554
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:36,400
Speaker 1: remember being a kid and discovering that it was a

555
00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:38,160
Speaker 1: green screen and that they were looking at a TV

556
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:40,200
Speaker 1: off camera to point out the weather. And I was like,

557
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:45,400
Speaker 1: it's like magic. Sort of me too, I remember the

558
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:49,120
Speaker 1: same thing, and I feel like, I don't know if

559
00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:52,560
Speaker 1: we were above average, but just on my recollection, it

560
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:57,400
Speaker 1: seemed like my family was a real Weather channel family.

561
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,959
Speaker 1: You know, we watched that all the time. It's great

562
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:04,640
Speaker 1: to nap too. Oh yeah, very soothing with baseball games

563
00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:07,800
Speaker 1: and golf. I just napped any of that stuff. Um.

564
00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:11,720
Speaker 1: But in the eighties as well, with the launch of

565
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:15,000
Speaker 1: the Weather Channel, and not necessarily related, um, but we

566
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:19,280
Speaker 1: do have at this time more women pursuing atmospheric science

567
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:23,719
Speaker 1: degrees and technology, and they're getting more respect, but it's

568
00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:30,120
Speaker 1: still bogged down with that sexist stereotype. However, snaps to

569
00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:34,480
Speaker 1: the Weather Channel because it had no interest in weather girls.

570
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:38,320
Speaker 1: In fact, it was partially launched to get away from

571
00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:42,920
Speaker 1: that reputation of weather just being this uh I don't know,

572
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:46,080
Speaker 1: part of the happy talk of the morning. YEA of

573
00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:50,880
Speaker 1: its initial twenty four on camera reporters were academically trained

574
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:57,800
Speaker 1: meteorologists and uh weather channels. Vivian Brown celebrated her twenty

575
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:03,120
Speaker 1: five anniversary there and she actually received a masters and

576
00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:08,040
Speaker 1: atmospheric science from Georgia Tech. And that's notable because I

577
00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:12,239
Speaker 1: remember watching Vivian Brown forecasts the weather when I was

578
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:18,680
Speaker 1: a kid, and she was talking to Ebony magazine about

579
00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:22,440
Speaker 1: how significant it is that she is a woman of

580
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:28,440
Speaker 1: color who is also this veteran weather forecaster and in

581
00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:31,520
Speaker 1: her experience, she was just talking about how much she

582
00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:36,920
Speaker 1: was such a weather nerd growing up and that, yeah,

583
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:39,040
Speaker 1: she was usually the only one who looked like her

584
00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:42,400
Speaker 1: in the room, but she really loved it so much

585
00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:47,279
Speaker 1: she persisted and made her way through. But if we

586
00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:54,359
Speaker 1: fast forward today, still the stigma remains. Yeah, Kendre Kent,

587
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:58,440
Speaker 1: who's the rare female chief meteorologist at a TV station

588
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:03,359
Speaker 1: um at goes what our listener wrote in uh Kent says,

589
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:06,279
Speaker 1: you're constantly fighting the weather girl stigma. Whoever came up

590
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:09,360
Speaker 1: with that term really jinxed us these last few decades.

591
00:40:09,520 --> 00:40:14,600
Speaker 1: And she also earned her master's degree in broadcast meteorology

592
00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:19,120
Speaker 1: from Mississippi State. She also has official seals of approval

593
00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:24,800
Speaker 1: from the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association.

594
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:28,880
Speaker 1: UM So she's a big hitter and she's tie yared

595
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,680
Speaker 1: of these weather girls stereotypes. Yeah, you would imagine that

596
00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:37,480
Speaker 1: someone with all of that knowledge would have none of

597
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,920
Speaker 1: the stigma. Um. Speaking though of Mississippi State, I did

598
00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:46,120
Speaker 1: not know until researching for this episode, because why else

599
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:49,719
Speaker 1: really what? I noticed that it and Penn State are

600
00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:54,520
Speaker 1: the top two schools for broadcast meteorology. Huh Mississippi State?

601
00:40:54,960 --> 00:41:00,239
Speaker 1: Who knew? Answer? Not me? Um. But there is this

602
00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:03,839
Speaker 1: double bind at this point. And this is something that

603
00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:06,839
Speaker 1: was talked about and it really in depth analysis from

604
00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:10,680
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago from Frank in Magic Associates.

605
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:15,400
Speaker 1: And essentially it's the whole thing that if you happen

606
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:19,759
Speaker 1: to be a woman and a weather caster and you

607
00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:24,040
Speaker 1: forecast the weather correctly, then the perception is that it

608
00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:27,080
Speaker 1: must just be easy work. You're probably just getting on

609
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:29,920
Speaker 1: your weather app on your phone, right and then just

610
00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:35,000
Speaker 1: repeating what's there? Uh. But then if you miss the mark,

611
00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:37,120
Speaker 1: if you say it's not going to rain and then

612
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:42,279
Speaker 1: of course trrential downpour, then they assume it's because you're

613
00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:44,319
Speaker 1: just a weather bunny, as some of them are called,

614
00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 1: You're just a bimbo. Really yeah, And this whole thing

615
00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:51,000
Speaker 1: is unfortunate because weather is typically the number one reason

616
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:55,319
Speaker 1: that people tune into local news, especially in areas that

617
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:58,919
Speaker 1: are prone to really bad severe weather, and in fact,

618
00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:02,759
Speaker 1: in those local uh TV stations as local news stations,

619
00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:08,000
Speaker 1: meteorologists are among the highest paid, even more so sometimes

620
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:11,640
Speaker 1: than the news anchor, because everybody's tuning in for the weather,

621
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:16,200
Speaker 1: including my family apparently, although we were really more the

622
00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:19,520
Speaker 1: weather channel types more than the local news weatherum, but

623
00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:23,280
Speaker 1: that was that was just us UM. And even today,

624
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:29,200
Speaker 1: research from the Radio Television Digital News Association and Hostra

625
00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:35,480
Speaker 1: University finds that there is still a broadcast weather gender gap. Yes,

626
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:38,239
Speaker 1: so Kristen mentioned that Mississippi State and Penn State are

627
00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:42,320
Speaker 1: the top two schools for broadcast meteorology. Uh Mississippi State

628
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:46,839
Speaker 1: has about of its major's being women and Penn State

629
00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:50,040
Speaker 1: has about thirty five, which is an uptick from a

630
00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:53,200
Speaker 1: decade ago. So that's positive, But there is clearly then

631
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:57,279
Speaker 1: a drop off between the classroom and the newsroom that

632
00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:01,280
Speaker 1: leaves just two out of every ten broad cast meteorologists

633
00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:05,759
Speaker 1: as women. So, I mean, what's going on? Well, I

634
00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:08,880
Speaker 1: would imagine that if if you are wise to the

635
00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:14,120
Speaker 1: criticism from the viewers, that you might be subject to

636
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:20,040
Speaker 1: maybe that would deter you. Um, but I'm not entirely

637
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:23,840
Speaker 1: sure that was something that this analysis didn't get deeply into.

638
00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:30,120
Speaker 1: So meteorologists listening who have some insight on that pipeline leakage,

639
00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:34,839
Speaker 1: let us know what's up with that. Because women make

640
00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:39,880
Speaker 1: up of the total TV station workforce in the US

641
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:46,319
Speaker 1: compared to around of the local TV weather crew, and

642
00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:49,799
Speaker 1: in fact, we are making faster headway we as in

643
00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:53,920
Speaker 1: women are making faster headweight in sports reporting than we

644
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:57,640
Speaker 1: are in whether. Yeah, that actually stopped me in my

645
00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:03,080
Speaker 1: tracks too, because that's how you know something bad. Because

646
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:06,759
Speaker 1: we talked about you know, sideline reporters way back in

647
00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 1: the day now and uh, I feel like when things

648
00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:14,320
Speaker 1: and things should should get better for women in sports reporting.

649
00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:16,799
Speaker 1: More women should be in sports reporting. That's great, give

650
00:44:16,840 --> 00:44:20,840
Speaker 1: them more opportunities. Um, But the fact that it's improving

651
00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:24,160
Speaker 1: in sports reporting faster than in local weather is is

652
00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:27,880
Speaker 1: pretty telling. And when you do get women though entering

653
00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:30,800
Speaker 1: not dropping out of the pipeline and entering weather casting,

654
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:36,560
Speaker 1: around seventy of them are assigned to those perkier morning

655
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:40,160
Speaker 1: weather UH forecasts, and they're less likely to do the

656
00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:42,799
Speaker 1: whole on the ground severe weather coverage. They're out in

657
00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:46,240
Speaker 1: the storm, their hats blowing away there, their wind breaker

658
00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:50,040
Speaker 1: is billowing in the wind, breaking it. It's about to

659
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:54,000
Speaker 1: say their wind breakers are almost breaking. Um. They're also

660
00:44:54,040 --> 00:44:57,799
Speaker 1: seems to be some ages um at work, because if

661
00:44:57,840 --> 00:45:03,040
Speaker 1: you look at the distribution of male weather casters like

662
00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:07,480
Speaker 1: across the ages from really your mid twenties even up

663
00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:13,239
Speaker 1: to your seventies, it remains pretty flat. But women peak

664
00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:19,080
Speaker 1: not terribly surprisingly in the to thirty year old cohort.

665
00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:22,719
Speaker 1: But there's also the question of whether they're pulling a

666
00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:26,920
Speaker 1: Diane Sawyer and using it as a stepping stone to

667
00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:30,759
Speaker 1: a news anchor desk. Um. But the cycle that we

668
00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:36,000
Speaker 1: see of even when you get women into broadcast weather, um,

669
00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:38,360
Speaker 1: they still tend to trickle out. That's been referred to

670
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:43,480
Speaker 1: as the freeze out of female broadcast meteorologists. And in

671
00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:47,200
Speaker 1: a pattern that is repeated in pretty much every Stuff

672
00:45:47,239 --> 00:45:50,120
Speaker 1: Mom Never Told You episode in which we have looked

673
00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:54,480
Speaker 1: at a career field, the higher up their ranks you go,

674
00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:59,960
Speaker 1: the smaller the proportion of women you find. Yeah, when

675
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:02,520
Speaker 1: in are just ten to twelve percent of TV station

676
00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:06,680
Speaker 1: chief meteorologists. And this sort of jives with the fact

677
00:46:06,719 --> 00:46:11,000
Speaker 1: that women hold just one of those a MS American

678
00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:16,080
Speaker 1: Meteorological Society Seals of Approval and just fourteen percent of

679
00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:20,280
Speaker 1: a MS broadcast certifications. And there's also a question too

680
00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:25,520
Speaker 1: of a credibility gap because quote unquote weather Girls had

681
00:46:26,120 --> 00:46:29,560
Speaker 1: zero credibility, and so it's been harder for women to

682
00:46:29,560 --> 00:46:34,040
Speaker 1: be taken seriously in this very scientific field. Uh. And

683
00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:37,960
Speaker 1: it's also reinforced the idea that doing the weather is

684
00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:43,839
Speaker 1: a super easy stepping stone to quote unquote serious journalism. Um,

685
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:45,759
Speaker 1: even though I mean this is the whole irony of

686
00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:50,000
Speaker 1: the whole thing, even though we as a local TV

687
00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:54,160
Speaker 1: audience primarily tune in for the weather. Yeah, And this

688
00:46:54,200 --> 00:46:57,840
Speaker 1: whole credibility gap issue is pervasive. It's on all sides

689
00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:01,919
Speaker 1: when it comes to hiring. Barbara Fry, who's the vice

690
00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:06,440
Speaker 1: president of talent services at that frank In Legit Associates group,

691
00:47:07,360 --> 00:47:10,080
Speaker 1: says that some managers deep down inside have a hang

692
00:47:10,200 --> 00:47:13,279
Speaker 1: up about putting women in lead roles in whether they

693
00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:17,680
Speaker 1: fear the women won't have credibility. So there you have

694
00:47:17,719 --> 00:47:21,319
Speaker 1: a cycle as well. Of course, because us from the

695
00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:25,120
Speaker 1: dawn of weather Girls, it's been this like flippant, just

696
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:28,279
Speaker 1: cute see thing that hasn't been taken seriously. But if

697
00:47:28,320 --> 00:47:31,000
Speaker 1: the people who are responsible for hiring are not taking

698
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:33,000
Speaker 1: them seriously either, then we're just not going to see

699
00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:35,800
Speaker 1: them on screen and the cycle will continue. Yeah. And

700
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:40,000
Speaker 1: here's the thing too. If a station has had a

701
00:47:40,080 --> 00:47:45,960
Speaker 1: weather dude for forever um, once he leaves, he is

702
00:47:46,360 --> 00:47:50,560
Speaker 1: likely to be replaced with another dude to maintain is

703
00:47:50,600 --> 00:47:55,279
Speaker 1: so called gender balance of the station um, which does

704
00:47:55,360 --> 00:47:58,520
Speaker 1: make me wonder what will happen when Al Roker goes.

705
00:47:58,560 --> 00:48:02,040
Speaker 1: Will all Roker be rep ice with another Al Roker?

706
00:48:02,200 --> 00:48:05,840
Speaker 1: I feel like, could there be another Al Roker? Um?

707
00:48:06,719 --> 00:48:09,839
Speaker 1: But you got to balance out Hoda and Kathee Lee

708
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:12,960
Speaker 1: right on the Today Show. Oh see, here's the thing. Uh.

709
00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:17,120
Speaker 1: And not to perpetuate the credibility gap, but Kathie Lee

710
00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:20,040
Speaker 1: with her ye wine doing the weather could be a

711
00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:24,720
Speaker 1: fun start to the day, that's true, but then also

712
00:48:24,800 --> 00:48:29,760
Speaker 1: a segment after that having an actual meteorologist who happens

713
00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:33,799
Speaker 1: to be a woman delivering the real weather and not

714
00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:37,120
Speaker 1: drunk nady. Kathee Lee could just be watching the meteorologist

715
00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:39,840
Speaker 1: give the weather with her wine. There you go. She

716
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:42,319
Speaker 1: could be off to the side, heckling. We should maybe

717
00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:46,400
Speaker 1: start our own feminist weather channel. We've got great ideas

718
00:48:47,239 --> 00:48:51,360
Speaker 1: feminist weather. What would that be? Uh we were just

719
00:48:52,239 --> 00:48:54,360
Speaker 1: it's raining men all the time, all the time, and

720
00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:56,680
Speaker 1: then uh we would pay a lot of attention to

721
00:48:56,719 --> 00:49:02,680
Speaker 1: those full moons because you know what's coming hashtag nancies.

722
00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:10,440
Speaker 1: But one thing I was not prepared to discover while

723
00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:15,279
Speaker 1: looking up info about the landscape of women and weathercasting

724
00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:22,240
Speaker 1: today is just a rampant sexualization of so called weather girls.

725
00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:26,720
Speaker 1: I mean that that trope is alive and well, y'all,

726
00:49:26,760 --> 00:49:30,840
Speaker 1: there are so many listicles of how people love to

727
00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:34,880
Speaker 1: do this X hardest weather girls. Yeah, I mean whether

728
00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:39,520
Speaker 1: you're whether you're a weather girl or a sideline reporter

729
00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:42,200
Speaker 1: or whatever, if you're a woman in the media and

730
00:49:42,200 --> 00:49:45,000
Speaker 1: in the public eye of any kind, I mean, there's

731
00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:48,320
Speaker 1: gonna be a listical that is doing nothing but objectifying

732
00:49:48,360 --> 00:49:51,719
Speaker 1: these women who are doing their hardest to be taken seriously. Well,

733
00:49:51,719 --> 00:49:54,680
Speaker 1: now we have a spectrum, it seems like, because in

734
00:49:54,760 --> 00:49:58,920
Speaker 1: certain markets you do still have the more looks based

735
00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:02,799
Speaker 1: whether present ter um. But even still, if you have

736
00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:07,080
Speaker 1: a serious meteorologist who is weather casting, it's not like

737
00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:10,840
Speaker 1: she is immune um from being sexually objectified. So you

738
00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:15,759
Speaker 1: have this gross ogling of them, um. And and regardless

739
00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:19,799
Speaker 1: of whether you are a weather presenter or actually a

740
00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:23,360
Speaker 1: weather caster. UM, it doesn't mean that like it's cool

741
00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:27,120
Speaker 1: to objectify the presenter, um. But you have all of

742
00:50:27,160 --> 00:50:30,480
Speaker 1: that going on, just drooling over them. And then on

743
00:50:30,520 --> 00:50:33,640
Speaker 1: the other hand, you have all of that body shaming

744
00:50:33,640 --> 00:50:39,400
Speaker 1: criticism that's usually directed at more at the the women

745
00:50:39,520 --> 00:50:42,400
Speaker 1: who might have those A M. S. Seals of approval,

746
00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:47,120
Speaker 1: who did get their atmospheric science degree, um, who are

747
00:50:47,200 --> 00:50:51,080
Speaker 1: really science nerds about the whole thing. I mean, so

748
00:50:51,120 --> 00:50:55,520
Speaker 1: it's like, can can women and weather win maybe if

749
00:50:55,520 --> 00:50:58,920
Speaker 1: they put on that twenty three dollar magical Amazon dress. Well,

750
00:50:58,960 --> 00:51:01,200
Speaker 1: and we can't leave up the whole issue of rampant

751
00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:06,080
Speaker 1: racism either. Um. One example of this, UH is Maria

752
00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:12,160
Speaker 1: Julio Contino. She's Brazil's first black weather forecaster on prime

753
00:51:12,200 --> 00:51:19,200
Speaker 1: time great wonderful um. However, she received so many racist,

754
00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:24,400
Speaker 1: vitriolic Facebook comments that she ended up doing something positive

755
00:51:24,440 --> 00:51:26,759
Speaker 1: and she started the creolea group which is a nonprofit

756
00:51:26,800 --> 00:51:31,040
Speaker 1: advocating on behalf of black Brazilian women. She's just faced

757
00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:35,799
Speaker 1: so much abuse herself that she felt compelled that, you know,

758
00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:39,160
Speaker 1: I have to do something to counter this, and I

759
00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:45,680
Speaker 1: was surprised to not find more research or coverage of

760
00:51:46,520 --> 00:51:50,520
Speaker 1: race and weather casting, especially as it applies to women,

761
00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:54,319
Speaker 1: because just anecdotally, there do seem to be far more

762
00:51:54,360 --> 00:51:59,000
Speaker 1: white female faces in the United States than otherwise. Um.

763
00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:03,600
Speaker 1: And I'm not entirely sure why that is, whether that

764
00:52:03,680 --> 00:52:07,280
Speaker 1: has to do with going back to the pipeline issue

765
00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:13,280
Speaker 1: and UM gaps in STEM education or also though racist

766
00:52:13,760 --> 00:52:18,920
Speaker 1: hiring practices and preferences. UM. So again, if anyone listening

767
00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:22,880
Speaker 1: has some insider knowledge on that, uh, we'd love to

768
00:52:22,960 --> 00:52:28,240
Speaker 1: hear about it, because really, uh, Contino is the major

769
00:52:28,360 --> 00:52:33,080
Speaker 1: story that you find when you look up information about

770
00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:37,080
Speaker 1: weathercasting and racism. And maybe the answer is that it's

771
00:52:37,160 --> 00:52:41,000
Speaker 1: it's not such a thing, so that's why there hasn't

772
00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:46,000
Speaker 1: been much attention paid to it. But I am really

773
00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:49,799
Speaker 1: doubtful that there's ever not racism at play when anecdotally

774
00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:54,239
Speaker 1: all you see are white faces. And that's where we're

775
00:52:54,239 --> 00:52:57,600
Speaker 1: gonna leave this episode, because we are curious to hear

776
00:52:57,719 --> 00:53:02,759
Speaker 1: from people in the field, whether you are in broadcast

777
00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:08,720
Speaker 1: meteorology or in meteorology off screen. UM, we are curious

778
00:53:08,800 --> 00:53:13,080
Speaker 1: to know about the gender dynamics going into this, because

779
00:53:13,320 --> 00:53:16,239
Speaker 1: this really is a stem field that I at least

780
00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:19,120
Speaker 1: haven't heard all of that much about in terms of

781
00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:23,840
Speaker 1: conversations around gender and stem. So we would love to

782
00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:27,880
Speaker 1: hear from you. Thank you so much to meteorologists Sarah

783
00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:31,760
Speaker 1: for suggesting this episode, and uh, you know, she mentioned

784
00:53:31,840 --> 00:53:38,080
Speaker 1: that ABC's chief meteorologist Ginger z is one of her shroes.

785
00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:43,120
Speaker 1: And I'm wondering if anyone listening has a favorite weather

786
00:53:43,200 --> 00:53:47,480
Speaker 1: forecast or someone who perhaps inspired them or someone who

787
00:53:47,640 --> 00:53:51,520
Speaker 1: they just really admire. Let us know. Let us so

788
00:53:51,640 --> 00:53:54,680
Speaker 1: all of your weather thoughts. Mom Stuff at how stuff

789
00:53:54,680 --> 00:53:57,840
Speaker 1: works dot com is our email address. You can also

790
00:53:58,000 --> 00:54:01,839
Speaker 1: tweet us at mom stuff pot gust or messages on Facebook,

791
00:54:02,080 --> 00:54:04,040
Speaker 1: and we've got a couple of messages to share with

792
00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:10,959
Speaker 1: you right now. Okay, well, I have a letter here

793
00:54:11,040 --> 00:54:14,480
Speaker 1: from Leila. She says, I've been following your podcast for

794
00:54:14,480 --> 00:54:17,280
Speaker 1: forever and I just listen to your episode after Trump's election.

795
00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:21,359
Speaker 1: I am so sorry. I'm Asian Canadian, and like many Canadians,

796
00:54:21,400 --> 00:54:24,440
Speaker 1: I've been closely following American politics and you guys have

797
00:54:24,480 --> 00:54:27,960
Speaker 1: our support. I thought Hillary would win as well. I

798
00:54:28,000 --> 00:54:30,960
Speaker 1: have an undergraduate and master's degree in history. During my

799
00:54:31,040 --> 00:54:34,759
Speaker 1: undergrad I specialized in Canadian American relations and and then

800
00:54:34,800 --> 00:54:37,880
Speaker 1: at the end of my master's critical race theory. Evidently,

801
00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:40,279
Speaker 1: one of my main concerns over Trump's victory was on

802
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:42,839
Speaker 1: the issue of race and how the lives of non

803
00:54:42,880 --> 00:54:45,799
Speaker 1: whites will be impacted. I completely agree with you that

804
00:54:45,880 --> 00:54:48,520
Speaker 1: this election was a decision made by a significant chunk

805
00:54:48,520 --> 00:54:51,480
Speaker 1: of Americans voting to keep white supremacy alive. It is

806
00:54:51,480 --> 00:54:54,879
Speaker 1: a sad moment Canada too. How to endure eight years

807
00:54:54,920 --> 00:54:58,400
Speaker 1: of conservative rule under Stephen Harper. He's comparable to Trump,

808
00:54:58,480 --> 00:55:02,480
Speaker 1: especially in regards to xenophobe tendencies and support of large corporations.

809
00:55:02,920 --> 00:55:06,360
Speaker 1: Under him, Canada travel backward in time. We now have Trudeau,

810
00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:08,640
Speaker 1: who is trying to undo many of the changes made

811
00:55:08,640 --> 00:55:11,920
Speaker 1: by Harper. You never realize what a majority government entails

812
00:55:11,960 --> 00:55:15,040
Speaker 1: until you get it. We are used to a political stalemate.

813
00:55:15,120 --> 00:55:17,360
Speaker 1: But now that the Republicans have a majority in the House,

814
00:55:17,360 --> 00:55:19,640
Speaker 1: Senate and the Supreme Court, I do think that America

815
00:55:19,680 --> 00:55:21,920
Speaker 1: will also travel back in time. It's going to be

816
00:55:21,960 --> 00:55:24,080
Speaker 1: a painful four years and people will pay with their

817
00:55:24,120 --> 00:55:26,840
Speaker 1: lives and savings. But you know what I think This

818
00:55:26,920 --> 00:55:28,920
Speaker 1: can be good for us. Now that the idea of

819
00:55:28,920 --> 00:55:31,960
Speaker 1: a post racial America has been dismantled, we can now

820
00:55:32,000 --> 00:55:35,480
Speaker 1: have more conversations about how race works instead of arguing

821
00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:39,200
Speaker 1: whether racism still exists or not. I think people who

822
00:55:39,239 --> 00:55:41,960
Speaker 1: care about marginalized people's rights will put this to good use.

823
00:55:42,040 --> 00:55:44,279
Speaker 1: It will get us thinking and only make us care

824
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:47,720
Speaker 1: more about the issues we already care about. Don't forget

825
00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:49,839
Speaker 1: that you have tons of support from people all over

826
00:55:49,840 --> 00:55:53,160
Speaker 1: the world. You're not alone, but I hear you. It sucks.

827
00:55:53,520 --> 00:55:56,120
Speaker 1: You just need time. I believe in America, you guys

828
00:55:56,120 --> 00:55:58,600
Speaker 1: will pull through this. The simple fact that I know

829
00:55:58,680 --> 00:56:01,080
Speaker 1: they're too highly intelligent with been in Atlanta vouching free

830
00:56:01,160 --> 00:56:04,359
Speaker 1: quality puts a smile on my face. But feel free

831
00:56:04,360 --> 00:56:08,000
Speaker 1: to move to Canada. We like Americans like you. Thank Leela,

832
00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:11,600
Speaker 1: appreciate it well. I have a letter here from Kitty,

833
00:56:11,640 --> 00:56:15,920
Speaker 1: and she's also writing in response to the American election.

834
00:56:16,440 --> 00:56:18,879
Speaker 1: She writ it, I started composing this email early last

835
00:56:18,880 --> 00:56:21,480
Speaker 1: week before the awful reality of the Trump when was

836
00:56:21,520 --> 00:56:24,520
Speaker 1: even predicted. I really feel for you all in the US,

837
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:26,919
Speaker 1: and we are all very much reeling from the shock

838
00:56:27,000 --> 00:56:29,279
Speaker 1: on the other side of the world too. Now that

839
00:56:29,280 --> 00:56:31,760
Speaker 1: the dust has begun to settle and I've had my cry,

840
00:56:31,880 --> 00:56:33,960
Speaker 1: I'm trying to view this as an opportunity to be

841
00:56:34,040 --> 00:56:36,520
Speaker 1: stronger and fight harder for what I believe in, and

842
00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:40,040
Speaker 1: to start conversations and to make a difference. I live

843
00:56:40,080 --> 00:56:43,200
Speaker 1: in Canberra, the home of Australia's federal Parliament, and I've

844
00:56:43,200 --> 00:56:46,560
Speaker 1: been listening to your podcast religiously for the past ten months,

845
00:56:46,800 --> 00:56:49,960
Speaker 1: evangelizing about the Spinty message to any friends who will

846
00:56:49,960 --> 00:56:53,640
Speaker 1: listen to me. Thanks so much, Kitty. Driving home from

847
00:56:53,640 --> 00:56:56,200
Speaker 1: work on Tuesday, I was listening to your podcast on

848
00:56:56,239 --> 00:56:59,439
Speaker 1: female heads of Government and Heads of State. Wow. As

849
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Speaker 1: a young woman and who works in a role that

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00:57:01,440 --> 00:57:04,120
Speaker 1: observes a lot of the political machine, this was such

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00:57:04,160 --> 00:57:07,399
Speaker 1: a powerful reminder of how far we've come and how

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00:57:07,440 --> 00:57:10,600
Speaker 1: far we still have to go. On your comments on

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00:57:10,719 --> 00:57:15,799
Speaker 1: former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Australian politics, I have

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00:57:15,880 --> 00:57:17,760
Speaker 1: a correction and then a couple of facts. It will

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00:57:17,760 --> 00:57:21,960
Speaker 1: probably interest you in the Sminty audience. Tony Abbott famously

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00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:24,640
Speaker 1: made himself the Minister for Women when he became Prime

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00:57:24,640 --> 00:57:29,600
Speaker 1: Minister after the federal election, and only elected one woman

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00:57:29,640 --> 00:57:34,160
Speaker 1: to his cabinet. Of nineteen members. It was controversial for

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00:57:34,200 --> 00:57:36,680
Speaker 1: a number of reasons, and he relinquished the role to

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00:57:36,720 --> 00:57:39,480
Speaker 1: a female colleague around a year later and added an

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00:57:39,520 --> 00:57:43,160
Speaker 1: extra woman to you a cabinet. Oh, how generous, Tony.

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00:57:44,120 --> 00:57:46,080
Speaker 1: There's so much more of that story, but I give

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00:57:46,120 --> 00:57:49,080
Speaker 1: you just one anecdote to set the tone. When asked

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00:57:49,120 --> 00:57:52,800
Speaker 1: what his greatest achievement as Minister for Women was, Abbott

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00:57:52,880 --> 00:57:56,240
Speaker 1: commented that it was repealing the carbon tax because the

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00:57:56,280 --> 00:57:59,760
Speaker 1: women of Australia were worried mostly about the household, but

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00:58:00,040 --> 00:58:03,920
Speaker 1: it women around the country were incensed, especially as topics

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00:58:03,960 --> 00:58:07,040
Speaker 1: such as paid parentally and intimate partner violence were and

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00:58:07,120 --> 00:58:09,960
Speaker 1: still are much bigger issues for many of us. In public,

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00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:13,840
Speaker 1: perception was that he had done nothing at all. Although

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00:58:13,880 --> 00:58:16,720
Speaker 1: Abbott is no longer Prime Minister after being ousted from

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00:58:16,800 --> 00:58:20,680
Speaker 1: leadership by current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, things haven't really

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00:58:20,680 --> 00:58:23,120
Speaker 1: improved for women in his party, although there are now

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00:58:23,280 --> 00:58:26,800
Speaker 1: six in the twenty three member cabinet. At the election

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00:58:26,880 --> 00:58:30,400
Speaker 1: this year, the Conservative Liberal National Coalition dipped to its

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00:58:30,440 --> 00:58:34,480
Speaker 1: lowest female representation in two decades, with only thirteen women

877
00:58:34,480 --> 00:58:37,360
Speaker 1: to sixty three men in the House of Representatives and

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00:58:37,520 --> 00:58:40,640
Speaker 1: six women to twenty four in the Senate. Things are

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00:58:40,840 --> 00:58:42,840
Speaker 1: a bit better in some of the other parties, but

880
00:58:42,920 --> 00:58:45,960
Speaker 1: not by much. But it's not all bad news, and

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00:58:46,000 --> 00:58:48,000
Speaker 1: I'd like to give you to a couple of feel

882
00:58:48,040 --> 00:58:51,600
Speaker 1: good stories. Last week, the Australian Senate voted to change

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00:58:51,640 --> 00:58:54,440
Speaker 1: the standing Orders the rules of the Senate to allow

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00:58:54,440 --> 00:58:57,120
Speaker 1: senators to briefly care for an infant in the chamber,

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00:58:57,200 --> 00:58:59,440
Speaker 1: meaning that senators will be able to care for their

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00:58:59,520 --> 00:59:03,000
Speaker 1: child and not miss a critical vote or discussion. This

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00:59:03,080 --> 00:59:06,560
Speaker 1: is a change from the previous terminology, which only included breastfeeding,

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00:59:06,680 --> 00:59:09,040
Speaker 1: which would have prevented fathers from caring for a child,

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00:59:09,200 --> 00:59:11,280
Speaker 1: and which brings the Senate's rules in line with the

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00:59:11,320 --> 00:59:14,080
Speaker 1: House of Representatives on the other side of the building.

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00:59:15,280 --> 00:59:18,960
Speaker 1: Two last month, the Australian Capital Territory, which is home

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00:59:18,960 --> 00:59:21,760
Speaker 1: to Canberra in the Parliament, held its election for its

893
00:59:21,840 --> 00:59:25,280
Speaker 1: Legislative Assembly. Canberra and the a CT are known for

894
00:59:25,320 --> 00:59:29,560
Speaker 1: being quite progressive generally, but this election was groundbreaking for Australia.

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00:59:29,880 --> 00:59:33,240
Speaker 1: The Act became the first state or territory ever to

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00:59:33,360 --> 00:59:36,840
Speaker 1: elect a majority of female representatives. A total of thirteen

897
00:59:36,880 --> 00:59:39,280
Speaker 1: out of twenty five members are women, and to top

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00:59:39,320 --> 00:59:41,120
Speaker 1: it off, it's the first time a party with an

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00:59:41,240 --> 00:59:46,480
Speaker 1: lgbt Q member has been elected into state or territory government.

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00:59:47,080 --> 00:59:49,160
Speaker 1: While it's not a totally feel good story, I feel

901
00:59:49,160 --> 00:59:51,360
Speaker 1: like I should also mention that the Act has a

902
00:59:51,360 --> 00:59:54,800
Speaker 1: long history of fighting for marriage equality and famously legalized

903
00:59:54,800 --> 00:59:57,880
Speaker 1: same sex marriage for a total of five days before

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00:59:57,880 --> 01:00:01,320
Speaker 1: the High Court deemed the legislation unco institutional because the

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01:00:01,360 --> 01:00:04,920
Speaker 1: Constitution places the onus for marriage legislation on the federal

906
01:00:04,960 --> 01:00:08,120
Speaker 1: government and annul the thirty one marriages that had occurred

907
01:00:08,160 --> 01:00:12,400
Speaker 1: because same sex marriage was and remains illegal in Australia.

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01:00:12,840 --> 01:00:16,120
Speaker 1: Still we keep fighting. Keep on fighting, ladies. Stand up

909
01:00:16,120 --> 01:00:18,520
Speaker 1: for what you believe in, stand up for those who can't.

910
01:00:18,680 --> 01:00:21,640
Speaker 1: Celebrate the little winds and work toward the big ones.

911
01:00:21,920 --> 01:00:26,520
Speaker 1: And thank you so very much for everything you do. Well, kitty,

912
01:00:26,600 --> 01:00:29,240
Speaker 1: thank you so much for everything that you do and

913
01:00:29,360 --> 01:00:32,720
Speaker 1: for sharing what's happening in your part of the world.

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01:00:32,760 --> 01:00:35,880
Speaker 1: And I gotta say that that's been um a really

915
01:00:36,560 --> 01:00:39,960
Speaker 1: it's been an up shot of the the American election

916
01:00:40,080 --> 01:00:44,040
Speaker 1: to hear from folks outside the US who are dealing

917
01:00:44,080 --> 01:00:49,760
Speaker 1: with similar issues. Because by no means are the inequalities

918
01:00:50,200 --> 01:00:53,880
Speaker 1: that we are seeing made manifest with us last election

919
01:00:54,240 --> 01:00:58,040
Speaker 1: specific only to the US, so dear friends, please keep

920
01:00:58,040 --> 01:01:00,080
Speaker 1: writing us, and if you'd like to reach out to you,

921
01:01:00,240 --> 01:01:04,200
Speaker 1: Caroline or me individually, you can do that or follow us.

922
01:01:04,760 --> 01:01:09,600
Speaker 1: I'm at Kristen Conger on Twitter. Caroline is at the

923
01:01:09,760 --> 01:01:14,520
Speaker 1: Caroline Herv that's E r V on Twitter, and you

924
01:01:14,520 --> 01:01:17,640
Speaker 1: can also find us on Instagram, and we both have

925
01:01:18,240 --> 01:01:22,560
Speaker 1: personal websites as well. We're extremely google able, so find us,

926
01:01:22,680 --> 01:01:26,840
Speaker 1: talk to us, and let's keep these conversations going. And

927
01:01:26,920 --> 01:01:28,919
Speaker 1: for links to all of our stuff mom Never Told

928
01:01:28,960 --> 01:01:31,520
Speaker 1: You social media, as well as all of our blogs, videos,

929
01:01:31,520 --> 01:01:34,040
Speaker 1: and podcasts with our sources so you can learn even

930
01:01:34,120 --> 01:01:37,920
Speaker 1: more about women in weather, head on over to stuff

931
01:01:38,040 --> 01:01:44,360
Speaker 1: Mom Never Told You dot com. For more on this

932
01:01:44,560 --> 01:01:47,280
Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff Works dot

933
01:01:47,280 --> 01:01:55,200
Speaker 1: com