“Clinton’s campaign was covered much more seriously by the mainstream press than any of the women who came before her,” said Falk, associate program chair for the communications master’s degree at the Johns Hopkins University. “There wasn’t progress in every area, but I think because she was a front-runner, it was hard for the press to cast her as a typical woman or a token candidate.”

“My research indicates that women are described physically four times as often as equivalent men who run in the same race. The press gives a lot of attention to what women candidates wear, their hair, and their beauty. The more time the press spends focusing on how women look, the less space there is available for information that might help voters make up their minds.”

KARK 4 News in Little Rock, Arkansas, covered Erika Falk’s recent event at the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock. Watch the news piece here.  For an expanded view of Professor Falk’s presentation keep an eye on the Book TV schedule. A C-SPAN film crew recorded the event for future broadcast.

“Despite striking advances over the last century in women’s social and political rights, and in attitudes about women in politics, press coverage of women candidates is not much better today than it was in 1872. The most significant consequence of this is not that, should a woman run, the press would make it less likely for her to win. Rather, the real problem is that such press coverage may make women less likely to run.”

Today’s Baltimore Sun includes an Erika Falk opinion piece on Hillary Clinton’s status as the “first woman” to run for president. 

“I am worried that persistently framing women as ‘firsts’ and novelties may abet our collective amnesia about the long and deep history of women’s political involvement throughout U.S. and world history. Women have led nations such as Canada, France and the United Kingdom, not to mention Turkey, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and many others.”

Professor Falk is the author of the newly published book Women for President: Media Bias in Eight Campaigns.