Media Watch Assignment

One would think that according to the video clip from the GOP that President Obama does not support women and definitely does not support women in political leadership roles but he has appointed Valerie Jarrett as his Senior White House adviser and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison since 2009. In fact she was a key player in his 2008 campaign for President and as well as being a Senior White House advisor, Jarrett is also the chair for the White House’s Council on Women and Girls (washingtonpost.com).

Most of the press about Valerie Jarrett has been good, although I do find that for some reason journalists always tend to write “fluff” pieces about females in leadership positions; for example Ms. Jarrett accidentally mistook a four-star General for a waiter and asked him for a glass of wine at a White House dinner, I guess these articles are meant to make said women more “likeable” and less “hard”. The one article that I thought was really great was an article about an equal pay app that Valerie helped create with the White House administration that helps women answer some difficult questions about equal pay such as; what's the typical salary for someone in your position? Should you be asking for more at the negotiating table? What are your fundamental legal rights, etc. (huffingtonpost.com). Eagli and Carli state that after statistically equalizing male and female characteristics, the wage gap shrinks but is not eliminated and the fact that the gap still remains suggests that discrimination affects wages (70), so having this equal pay app will help women and the White House address this wage gap.

Eagli and Carli state that it is no longer unusual to have women in the presidential cabinet or working as an advisor to the president (23). Valerie Jarrett is a perfect example of this and the articles I read about her support Eagli and Carli’s conclusions about women in positions of power because she is part of the increasing pattern of women getting advanced degrees and more women working in politics. So with all of this being said, I don’t see how the GOP can claim that President Obama is waging a war on women when he signed an executive order creating the White House Council on Women and Children and he works closely with the women who run it.

Word Count: 398

Works Cited
James, Michael. ABCNews.com. 3 February 2011. 10 April 2012 .
Jarrett, Valerie. The Huffington Post. 6 February 2012. 10 April 2012 .
Politics, Post. The Washington Post. n.d. 10 April 2012 .
Eagly, Alice, and Linda Carli. Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders. Harvard Business School Press, 2007.