“Mansplaining” and Political Voice

Guest author Ben White worked for WomanStats at BYU as an intern in 2016, and graduated in 2018 with a BA in Political Science. Now, as a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, his research explores how gender shapes our interactions with American politics. In recent years, "mansplaining", the phenomenon of a …

Writing a Woman: The Minefield of Breaking Down Gendered Stereotypes in Media

Women have been featured in entertainment media for centuries. When it comes to storytelling, I would be hard-pressed to find a story that didn’t feature women in some way.  However, in an age where representation is critical in the fight for equality, the problem does not lie in the amount of representation, but in the …

Virginity Testing: Women as Guardians of Virtue and Honor

Show me a culture that does not understand or teach consent and I’ll show you many cultures that absolve men of accountability, murder women in the name of honor, violate young girls, and exacerbate trauma. Across borders and state lines, cultures and languages, a common, shared experience of being a woman is violation of consent.  …

In Figures: The State of Women’s Health Around the World

The world’s population count reveals that women outnumber men; however, improving their lives and lengthening their lifespan is not on every government’s agenda. Women do enjoy better health services and greater rights in the developed world, but as the featured infographic suggests, the disparity can’t be missed as you scan and compare different areas of …

Women, War & Peace II

If you are unfamiliar with the PBS documentary series Women, War & Peace, we invite you to learn more about this excellent source of insight and information at their website: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/ This series tells the previously untold “stories of women who risked their lives for peace, changing history in the process.” The second part of …

Political Glass Ceiling: Women in Brazil

The original post, in Spanish, can be found here: https://womanstatslatina.wordpress.com/2018/10/31/el-techo-politico-de-cristal-la-mujeres-en-brasil/  This English translations was graciously provided by the authors, CC and JVSM  Considering the pending* results of the presidential election in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro has a high level of support from a significant proportion of the population in Brazil. This support has been obvious since …

The Hard-won Path to Success for Female Nigerian Athletes

Four Nigerian women made history this month in PyeongChang. Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere, and Akuoma Omeoga became the first-ever Olympic bobsled team from the entire continent of Africa. Simidele Adeagbo became the first female skeleton athlete to compete for Nigeria. But their success is more representative of their individual national pride than it is of …

Remembering Where We Came from and Looking Ahead to Where We Want to Be

I remember as a child thinking my grandma, or Meme we called her, was invincible. I would watch in awe as she seemed to seamlessly switch into different roles at the snap of a finger, morphing from grandma into businesswoman, into head of the household, or into a Sunday School teacher. The woman wore a …

The Oscars

Lack of representation of middle aged women in movies is a commonly noted concern regarding women in the media. A 2014 study showed that actresses hit their peak salary at age 34, while actors hit their peak at age 51. While men’s salary remains stable after this peak, there is a drastic reduction in salary …

Hope Through Small Acts

A better future for women means that it is a better future for all. I believe that when women are equally valued to men, atrocities such as honor killings, child brides, employment discrimination, pay gaps, and sexual assault will be seen as what they really are: horrors that have plagued this world for far too …