Last night Katie Couric appeared on “CBS Evening News,” breaking barriers and setting a new standard in journalism as the first female anchor to host the nightly news without a male co-anchor. This has made gains for professional women everywhere and proves women can present the news in a composed, respectable and professional manner.
Couric’s actions Tuesday evening brought a new standard to a career once heavily dominated by men. Within the past few decades the presence of women in newsrooms has become ordinary, yet there still existed social norms and boundaries that excluded women.
There were no written rules or verbal dictates forbidding women from presenting the news solo. It was much more covert than that. Because there hadn’t yet been a precedent of women on the air alone, it wasn’t something considered a problem and was accepted as normal for men to dominate the news at night.
Couric’s admission into the group of nightly news anchors just affirms something that has become a largely accepted fact for most people of higher thinking: intelligence and capability transcend gender and sex is not a limit or hindrance in performing a job.
In her broadcast, Couric appeared calm and serious, excluding herself and her emotions from the stories she reported on according to news sources. This is a drastic shift from her bouncy, bubbly morning show self. This new attitude is a crucial aspect of Couric’s appearance on the air and is ultimately a representation of women as professional journalists.
Too often women are still seen as being overtly emotional and incapable of acting in an emotionally detached way and lacking in rationality and logic. This stereotype is one that pervades even today’s progressive, forward-thinking society.
For a journalist, that quality is more than a slight flaw. It is an extremely taboo faux pas that restricts job availability. For women outside journalism, this persistent general categorization can also limit opportunities in various fields that require absolute objectivity, like science and math, both of which are noticeably devoid of female scholars.
However, Couric’s broadcast did deviate from the standard evening news in one big way. She ended her segment with a request to viewers for suggestions on how she could sign off at the end of the program.
Regardless, the mere fact that Couric was considered and hired for the job at all speaks volumes about how our society has changed to be more inclusive. American society continues to strive to extend itself to people outside the traditionally sought after social groups, namely Caucasian, able-bodied, heterosexual, Christian men.
Let’s keep the momentum from this revival in progression going and be sure to never forget and appreciate the extraordinary strides we have already made. It was only 50 years ago when women wouldn’t leave the house without heavy makeup and a skirt and were seen as people whose sole function was to clean and cook.
Now after only a few generations, a very short time for such a huge social shift to occur, things like makeup and dresses are entirely optional and are available for those who choose to utilize them.
Couric’s new career move is a recent example of an area where progress forgot to go and was left unexamined for decades. We need to be more vigilant and inquisitive as to what areas of our daily lives are not yet inclusive to people of different backgrounds.
For now, lets just relish in how far we’ve come.