Daughter of the Ring of Fire » Blog Archive » G-20 and Gender: Time Magazine’s Problematic Portrayal of Michelle Obama

Apr

2009

G-20 and Gender: Time Magazine’s Problematic Portrayal of Michelle Obama

Posted on 07:34, April 3rd, 2009 by EKSwitaj

Read my latest story, "The All-Nighter", at 52|250.

Many aspects of this Time article on Michelle Obama finding “her role on the world stage” at the G20 summit (h/t @BitchMagazine) trouble me. The biggest issue is encapsulated in the second paragraph:

In the President’s world, everything is collapsing — markets, housing prices, confidence. In the First Lady‘s world, everything is soaring — spirits, ballet dancers, ambitions. In Barack’s world, expressions of optimism are carefully qualified. In Michelle’s world, expressions of pessimism are almost unthinkable. For Barack, the big question is how he is going to save the world from economic and nuclear Armageddon. For Michelle, the big question is who made her darling cardigan with the sequins and the argyle print.

Now, I don’t have anything against sequins and argyle print (though the combination may well be something only Michelle Obama could pull off), but I do have to ask if such a question, especially in a time of turmoil, is really what ought to be the main focus for a woman as educated, intelligent, and accomplished as she is. Of course, the reporter cannot be bothered with such questions (or even the question of whether that really is her primary preoccupation, as he appears not to have asked her about the accuracy of his impressions).

Instead, he goes straight into describing her visit to The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School where she is “treated . . . as if she were an American Queen” and is held up as an example, a distant dream for what girls can achieve. Indeed, she has had an impressive educational and professional career, but the drift of the article is that she should be admired for the position she has gained through her husband, not for what she has done on her own. The article also ignores strong statements about the importance of women’s rights and achievements such as

Getting a good education is so important. That’s why all of this that you’re going through, the ups and the downs, the teachers that you love and the teachers that you don’t, why it’s so important—because communities and countries and ultimately the world are only as strong as the health of their women. And that’s important to keep in mind. Part of that health includes an outstanding education.

Time apparently would rather focus on her statement that her husband would be jealous of how much she was enjoying her day.

You would never see this sort of portrayal if the genders were reversed. Note that the husbands of G-20 leaders are absent, for example, from the official photograph of G-20 spouses.

ETA: Katha Pollitt takes a broader look at media portrayals of Michelle Obama.