E-Mailbag: Women On "Fallen Heroes?"
In our inbox this morning, we found this question, from Barbara R.:
I've seen women on "Fallen Heroes," a segment honoring American military casualties that runs on the "Evening News," but the majority of those I've seen featured have been men. It's notable, however, that most of those killed in combat have also been men. The question, then, is whether the "Fallen Heroes" segment is proportionately accurate – that is, whether the "Evening News" chooses subjects that accurately reflect the bigger picture. To address that issue, Ariel Bashi, assistant to the executive producer and one of the people who produces "Fallen Heroes," crunched some numbers for us.
According to Bashi, 12 women have been profiled on "Fallen Heroes." The segment has aired 352 times. That means approximately 3.4 percent of those profiled have been women. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, 42 of the 1,942 Americans killed in Iraq have been women – about 2.2 percent.
(One note: "Fallen Heroes" profiles casualties from both Iraq and Afghanistan, but the numbers above focus only on Iraq. If we were to include the statistics from Afghanistan, however, the percentage of female casualties would stay roughly the same.)
The answer to the question of why so few women are featured on "Fallen Heroes," then, is that relatively few women are killed in action. (For a breakdown of casualties by race, gender, and other factors, see this CNN page.) "We make every effort to represent African-Americans, women, and everyone who has been killed in the war," says Bashi.
NOTE: This post has been edited to reflect the fact that the number of women to have appeared on "Fallen Heroes" is 12, not 11, as was originally reported by the source.
© 2005 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved. Why do we never see women highlighted on the "Fallen Heroes" segment of the nightly news?
I've seen women on "Fallen Heroes," a segment honoring American military casualties that runs on the "Evening News," but the majority of those I've seen featured have been men. It's notable, however, that most of those killed in combat have also been men. The question, then, is whether the "Fallen Heroes" segment is proportionately accurate – that is, whether the "Evening News" chooses subjects that accurately reflect the bigger picture. To address that issue, Ariel Bashi, assistant to the executive producer and one of the people who produces "Fallen Heroes," crunched some numbers for us.
According to Bashi, 12 women have been profiled on "Fallen Heroes." The segment has aired 352 times. That means approximately 3.4 percent of those profiled have been women. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, 42 of the 1,942 Americans killed in Iraq have been women – about 2.2 percent.
(One note: "Fallen Heroes" profiles casualties from both Iraq and Afghanistan, but the numbers above focus only on Iraq. If we were to include the statistics from Afghanistan, however, the percentage of female casualties would stay roughly the same.)
The answer to the question of why so few women are featured on "Fallen Heroes," then, is that relatively few women are killed in action. (For a breakdown of casualties by race, gender, and other factors, see this CNN page.) "We make every effort to represent African-Americans, women, and everyone who has been killed in the war," says Bashi.
NOTE: This post has been edited to reflect the fact that the number of women to have appeared on "Fallen Heroes" is 12, not 11, as was originally reported by the source.
