The stage at the Democratic National Convention was awash in women Tuesday night. And it’s no wonder, since President Obama needs women desperately to win in November. Female voters tend to like Mr. Obama more than Mitt Romney — though Mr. Obama’s popularity among women has fallen sharply. So women were very much in the mix. (A nifty interactive graphic on NYTimes.com shows that “women” was the keyword mentioned third most often Tuesday night – after Obama and work.)
Each female speaker had her subject: Nancy Keenan had abortion (and she actually used the word, not its euphemism, “choice”). The Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, a moving figure with her prosthetic limbs and heartfelt delivery, had the military and overcoming poverty.
Michelle Obama had everything (including, it must be said, a great dress, featuring what a friend of mine would call her Second Amendment look — the right to bare arms). Smart female commentators like Rebecca Traister of Salon were impressed by the first lady’s speech and yet a bit regretful that it essentially blotted out this Ivy League-educated woman’s accomplishments beyond those of “Mom in Chief.” Alessandra Stanley ‘s TV Watch ably and entertainingly compared Ann Romney’s speech last week with Mrs. Obama’s.
Then, there was Lilly Ledbetter, the 74-year-old Alabama woman whose (unsuccessful) fair-pay suit became the basis of the first law that Mr. Obama signed as president, who spoke about pay equity.
One would think that this subject – and those closely related — would be a topic worth noting, given how it lives right at the nexus of all-important women and the all-important economy.
But that subject – not just pay equity but also gender-economic issues in general – were all but ignored in press coverage of women’s night, at least in print. The Times gave Ms. Ledbetter a half-sentence in Wednesday’s print edition. The Wall Street Journal allotted not even that in its morning newspaper, although the Washington Wire on WSJ.com took up the subject the night before. (Granted, only Ms. Ledbetter, among the speakers, focused on gender-pocketbook issues fully, so the fault may be as much a missed opportunity by the Democratic strategists as a hole in coverage by the press.)
Tim Harper of The Toronto Star took up the gender gap story in his online column Wednesday, but there wasn’t much else — at least not that I saw. Readers, I know, will correct me if I’m wrong.
Gender issues, particularly those going beyond the hot-button discussion of abortion, are worth exploring, and it’s too bad that the Democratic night-of-women opportunity didn’t prompt such a focus.
There was plenty of reader response to Tuesday’s post about fact-checking and the truth. I hope to develop the subject further for a column in the Sunday Review section. If readers have specific examples of “false balance” – the near-meaningless quoting of both sides to achieve the effect of fairness – I’d like to hear from you by e-mail at public@nytimes.com.