Podcast Summary: Media Agenda Talk – Women and the Public Sphere in the 21st Century

Guest Speaker: Caroline Criado Perez
Date: December 10, 2013
Host: LSE Film and Audio Team
Podcast Series: LSE: Public lectures and events

Overview

This episode features Caroline Criado Perez, an activist and campaigner, who discusses her work for gender equality—most notably her successful campaign to include a woman on British banknotes. She contextualizes this campaign within broader systemic gender inequalities, the importance of public representation, and the challenges women face when entering the public sphere, especially the unique harassment encountered through digital activism. Criado Perez also introduces her initiative, The Women’s Room, aimed at increasing female expert representation in media.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Genesis and Context of the Banknotes Campaign

([03:38–10:30])

• Initial Motivation: The campaign began when Criado Perez noticed the new £5 note would remove the only non-royal female historical figure, resulting in “zero out of six” female representation.
• Quote:

  “And for the less quick amongst you... that meant that we went from one out of six... to zero out of six. And I just felt that this was really unacceptable.” (05:18)

• Correlation to Systemic Issues: She connects the banknote representation to broader patterns including underrepresentation in curriculum, parliament, and media, as well as violence and economic inequality.

2. Women’s Systemic Disadvantage

([10:31–18:50])

• Pay and Economic Gap:

  “For those of you who are women and are working in paid employment at the moment, you’re actually not in paid employment, you’re in unpaid employment. And you’ve been in unpaid employment since the 7th of November.” (06:40)

• Education & Poverty:
  • 70% of those in poverty are women; two-thirds of global illiterates are women due to lack of education.
• Violence Against Women:
  • WHO declared violence against women a “global health problem of epidemic proportions.”
  • UK stats: Two women die weekly from domestic violence; domestic violence is the leading cause of violent deaths for women.

  “A woman is assaulted an average of 35 times before she calls the police... two women die every single week... just in the UK as a result of domestic violence.” (08:00)

3. Representation in Institutions and Media

([13:14–17:30])

• Political & Legal Underrepresentation:
  • Fewer than 1 in 4 MPs is a woman.
  • Only 17 of 110 High Court judges are women.
  • The national curriculum has scant mention of women.
• Media Representation:
  • Only one editor of a national UK newspaper is a woman.
  • 84% of lead stories are about men; 80% of prominent pictures are of women—primarily young and attractive.
  • “They [women] should probably be 52% of news stories. But why does it matter in the context of the fact that women are actually dying?” (14:44)
• Media Drives Policy:
  • Politicians responded to media coverage of her campaign, not her direct lobbying—a reflection of media's agenda-setting power.

4. Catalysis: The Women’s Room & Women as Experts

([21:30–25:45])

• Origin of The Women’s Room:
  • Launched to challenge the lack of women experts featured in media panels—sparked by two all-male discussions about women’s bodies on the Today Programme.
  • “For every five experts, only one will be a woman. Which again, doesn't reflect... the number of female experts in the country.” (22:06)
• Barriers to Claiming Expertise:
  • Criado Perez highlights women’s self-doubt:

    “I have a PhD in clinical psychology and 10 years postdoc experience, but I wouldn’t consider myself an expert.” (23:10, quoting a tweet)

  • Men’s confidence contrasts with women’s reluctance to put themselves forward.

5. Role Models, Stereotype Threat, and Research

([25:46–31:17])

• Role Model Effects:
  • Seeing women in positions of expertise or power boosts women’s own performance and confidence.
• Research Examples:
  • Women do worse in math tests when reminded of gender stereotypes, but excel and even outperform men when given female role models.
  • Having a female Senate candidate increases women’s political engagement.
  • Viewing images of female leaders before a speech improves both the quality and length of women’s speeches.

  “Just reminding women of their gender... actually has an impact on how they do in a test, which I find quite frightening.” (27:44)

6. Victory, Aftermath, and Online Abuse

([33:00–39:55])

• Outcome:
  • The campaign succeeded: Jane Austen to appear on £10 notes and the selection process was revised for fairness.
• Backlash Experience:
  • Following her win, Criado Perez endured weeks of targeted online harassment, including rape threats and doxing attempts.

  “It was a really horrific experience. I was terrified, really... I lost about half a stone in about two days.” (37:17)

• Impact on Activists:
  • Many women told her they withdrew from campaigning due to similar experiences.
  • Online abuse operates as a silencing mechanism:

    “I cannot begin to tell you how many women got in touch with me to say that something similar had happened to them. They had stopped campaigning, they had shut up.” (39:30)

7. The "Don’t Feed the Trolls" Fallacy and Freedom of Speech

([40:00–43:26])

• Critique of “Don’t Feed the Trolls”:
  • Such advice trivializes violent hate speech and shifts responsibility onto victims instead of perpetrators.

  “‘Don’t feed the trolls’... is not dealing with the problem... The best way to change my behaviour would be not to be a feminist, not to try and change the status quo, just to keep shutting down...” (41:16)

• Freedom of Speech Nuance:
  • True freedom of speech is compromised by threats and violence; the status quo disproportionately silences women.
• Broader Implications:
  • Female presence in the public sphere is met with unique hostility. Representation must continue to increase to challenge prevailing male dominance and normalize women's public participation.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the symbolism of female representation:

  “We’re underpaid and we’re under promoted and were beaten and sexually violated. Just to remind you again, to an extent, that the World Health Organization deems [it] a health problem of epidemic proportions.” (13:15)

• On the need for female role models:

  “If women don’t feel confident enough in themselves to speak up, to stand for Parliament, to consider themselves experts with opinions worth listening to, how are we ever going to get to a stage where we have a media that is representing 100% of the public?” (25:12)

• On her theory about male backlash:

  “My pet theory is that these are men who've grown up seeing... men running parliament, men running companies, men running the judiciary, men being in the media. And fair enough, they grow up thinking... I'm going to inherit the world... When they see a woman taking that place... they think, this cannot be allowed to happen. I must shut her up with threats of violence.” (43:00)

Timeline Highlights (Timestamps)

• [03:38] – Caroline introduces the banknote campaign, situates problem of representation.
• [06:40] – Illustrates the pay gap and its translation into unpaid labor.
• [08:00] – Details shocking domestic violence statistics.
• [14:44] – Analyzes media’s disproportionate male focus.
• [21:30] – Launch of The Women’s Room and barriers to women experts.
• [25:46] – Summarizes role model research and implications.
• [33:00] – Describes the aftermath of her successful campaign; experiences of online abuse.
• [40:00] – Critiques standard online safety advice; the deeper issue of silencing.
• [43:00+] – Discusses the broader cultural consequences of women’s public participation—and why it must increase.

Conclusion

Caroline Criado Perez’s lecture is a compelling, frank, and comprehensive exploration of how seemingly “minor” representational decisions—like who is pictured on banknotes—are symptomatic of much larger social inequalities. Her personal experiences as a campaigner and the recipient of digital abuse bring a visceral immediacy to the otherwise abstract arguments for equality and representation. Above all, she makes a powerful case for persistent, vocal feminist advocacy—and the absolute necessity of increasing women’s presence in the public sphere, both for current and future generations.