Yahoo Lifestyle Amal Alamuddin Plagued By Sexism
A lot has been said about George Clooney's engagement to Amal Alamuddin - most of it about George Clooney.
It was surprising to see everyone's favourite bachelor finally settling down - but what about Alamuddin? The low-profile lawyer, who specialises in international and human rights law, is finally hitting the headlines - but not for the reasons she might like.
Most recently, Alamuddin was invited to become one of three experts called in to investigate alleged human rights violations and war crimes in Gaza.
Alamuddin declined the offer, but the UN Watch group accused the UN of "trying to inject some Hollywood publicity into the process."
We can't help but wonder what the reaction would have been if the gender roles had been reversed: would George have even made headlines?
To illustrate just how large a role her relationship with Clooney played on the framing of the story, ThinkProgress drew upon sample of stories found on LexisNexis, a media monitoring website.
"Eliminating duplicates, we found just under fifty articles written about the U.N. naming the panel using the terms "Clooney" and "Gaza," wrote ThinkProgress. "Of these stories, 28 mention George Clooney's name in the headline - only 8 mention her by name in the headline without him. All the worse, a full 22 of the headlines found in LexisNexis - forty-six percent of the total - only mention Clooney in the headline."
Way to undermine Alamuddin's extensive career.
Alamuddin was an obvious choice for the UN position, having represented former Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as well as Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymonshenko. In addition, she's also worked with the UN as an advisor to former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan during his time as the Special Envoy for Syria, and as counsel to the U.N.'s inquiry on the use of drones in counter-terrorism operations.
Others have hypothised that Alamuddin's upcoming nuptials to Clooney are the cause of her decline, but as Alamuddin says, she has "eight ongoing cases" already on her plate.
"I am honored to have received the offer, but given existing commitments - including eight ongoing cases - unfortunately could not accept this role," said Alamuddin. "I wish my colleagues who will serve on the commission courage and strength in their endeavors."
That she had turned down the post didn't matter in the framing of the story, however.
"In the end, the media for the most part appears to have determined that her new role as the spouse of a star has totally replaced her long list of achievements and years of experience in international law," said ThinkPress.
Fortunately, Clooney seems to know he's scored quite a catch with Alamuddin, telling Variety, "I'm marrying up".
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