Why is motherhood still the first thing journalists think of?

It was unprofessional. I assume she’s a ‘plain clothes’ officer, but her choice of clothes was inappropriate to the situation. She wasn’t heading out to a party, she was talking to the press about a missing, probably dead, woman. Just adding a jacket would have made a big difference. The male equivalent would have been turning up, jacketless, in an open necked casual shirt and chinos.

I think being described as a Pensioner is a pretty miserable way to be described.

I've often thought it odd how journalists define people they' re writing about, especially women.
Having married young my whole adult life has been spent as a wife, mother and grandmother. But in recent years I have had a strong sense of wanting to get back to who I was before that.
I've even taken to calling myself by my maiden name. And I certainly don't want to be labelled a 'pensioner'.

MerylStreep

Houseplantqueen
I have to agree that her outfit was unprofessional. She was there
as a senior police officer. Why was she not in uniform.

Could so easily have been resolved if she had simply worn a jacket.

Sorry, crossed posts with GSM

Great minds, Blinko 😊

Germanshepherdsmum

It was unprofessional. I assume she’s a ‘plain clothes’ officer, but her choice of clothes was inappropriate to the situation. She wasn’t heading out to a party, she was talking to the press about a missing, probably dead, woman. Just adding a jacket would have made a big difference. The male equivalent would have been turning up, jacketless, in an open necked casual shirt and chinos.

I agree about the male equivalent, but would there have been the same judgemental attitude if a male police officer had been interviewed in the outfit you mention?
I’ve no idea why she chose to appear jacketless. Perhaps she wasn’t wearing one, or had a cute bolero top which she was told looked too frivolous for such a serious speech. Or maybe her jacket wasn’t a suitable colour. I certainly never wear a black jacket with a black dress.
Who knows?

Perhaps she was hot.

She wasn’t just being interviewed though - she hadn’t been caught off guard somewhere, this was a pre-arranged press conference. If a male police officer had been similarly inappropriately attired he would have received criticism and rightly so. It shows a lack of respect. In such a situation you always keep a jacket in the office, and men a tie also. I couldn’t care less about wearing a black jacket with a black dress - my office wear as a lawyer was always black, dark grey or navy. It was about looking appropriate for the job, not about fashion.

Being hot isn’t an acceptable excuse Fanny.

Yes, I agree in the main Shep.
I thought it was odd at the time too.
She did look like she’d just wandered in or had been called in from doing something else and flung off her jacket.
As you say, she would have known what was expected and dressed accordingly.
And I speak as someone who is constantly hot and bothered

That dress is not appropriate for her work, jacket or no, any more than it would have been for mine.

I think there are other statements that concern me more rather than the wife and mother thing, generally in reports of men who kill their families they are described as a loving father, etc. More often not they have a hidden history of domestic violence, control etc so no not a loving upstanding man.

It happens less than it did, but I agree. of course we are proud of being mums or grandma's but its simply not relevant in some of the places it appears and it certainly isn't equal for men and women.

In my day (sounding like my Mum) “business dress” - which for women always involved a jacket and suits for men - went without saying.
But times seem to have changed- and not necessarily for the better!
I think what you wear in a public position inspires confidence in the people you are dealing with as well as identifying you in your professional position.
Dog collars for vicars, suits and ties (men) and skirt or trouser suits for women , uniforms for nurses and so on which show who is who, etc.
Even as a secondary teacher there was a dress code and I never felt it impinged on my freedom!
I however have no wish to comment further on this sad case as the grief and hurt being caused to the family is inexcusable.

I thought the dress she wore and her hairstyle were inappropriate for the occasion.

I thought so too, momb.

Also, the too hot excuse doesn't hold water. It's possible to wear a thin (but smart) jacket over a dress even in the tropics. This was Lancashire in February.

I think it would be fine to use the word mother as long as men were described in a similar way.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202302/medium-149857-screenshot-20230222-124511-chrome.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202302/medium-72100-20230222-124200.jpg

At the risk of saying something wrong here, I see no problem with the Superintendent's dark blue dress. It's not short and is fairly severe in my opinion.

Skin tight and sleeveless NotSpaghetti. Neither is appropriate when participating in a press conference about a missing woman, believed then by the police to be dead.

lemsip

grandtante you say
' but if the reporter wanted to have made this cheap point,'
....................................

what? How can you even suggest that it is a cheap point

I can and did call it a cheap point because I know enough about journalism to know that neither the writer nor the editor cares at all about the children concerned, but is invoking them to sell more copies of the paper.

We can all feel for the children, but knowing that a missing person has children does not make her easily recognisable, which telling us her age might do, or telling us whether she is blond or brunette might.

I am not sure I agree about blanket criticism of journalists. This particular one may or may not have cared but I can think of numerous talented writers who care a lot about womens welfare, safety etc.

If I hadn’t seen the SI in other reports I wouldn’t have had a clue who she was. She doesn’t look as if she is there in a professional capacity.
As I said up thread, it just seemed a bit odd

Precisely Fanny. If she was wearing a jacket and hadn’t put such obvious effort into her appearance at a time when she was responsible for a very serious investigation, you would have thought differently. Generally when you see the police in these situations the stress is obvious and they haven’t had time to choose a fetching outfit and get the hair straighteners out.

MerylStreep

Houseplantqueen
I have to agree that her outfit was unprofessional. She was there
as a senior police officer. Why was she not in uniform.

Well, I disagree. She was wearing civilian uniform as most senior officers of a senior rank would, her male counterparts would be in a suit. She was wearing a smart dress and jacket, and when photographed was without her jacket.