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Friday 29 of March 2024

Katie Couric recounts facing sexist attitudes, comments


FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2018 file photo, Katie Couric poses in the press room at the 23rd annual Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Calif. Couric and leaders of household consumer products maker Procter & Gamble highlight a forum planned to examine the state of women in the workplace. P&G and Seneca Women, which advocates for global female advancement, are co-hosting the #WeSeeEqual forum Thursday at the company’s Cincinnati headquarters. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File),FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2018 file photo, Katie Couric poses in the press room at the 23rd annual Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Calif. Couric and leaders of household consumer products maker Procter & Gamble highlight a forum planned to examine the state of women in the workplace. P&G and Seneca Women, which advocates for global female advancement, are co-hosting the #WeSeeEqual forum Thursday at the company’s Cincinnati headquarters. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2018 file photo, Katie Couric poses in the press room at the 23rd annual Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Calif. Couric and leaders of household consumer products maker Procter & Gamble highlight a forum planned to examine the state of women in the workplace. P&G and Seneca Women, which advocates for global female advancement, are co-hosting the #WeSeeEqual forum Thursday at the company’s Cincinnati headquarters. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File),FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2018 file photo, Katie Couric poses in the press room at the 23rd annual Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Calif. Couric and leaders of household consumer products maker Procter & Gamble highlight a forum planned to examine the state of women in the workplace. P&G and Seneca Women, which advocates for global female advancement, are co-hosting the #WeSeeEqual forum Thursday at the company’s Cincinnati headquarters. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Veteran TV journalist Katie Couric says she has faced sexist attitudes in her career, such as demeaning descriptions and "gross comments." Couric spoke Thursday at consumer products maker Procter & Gamble's Cincinnati headquarters in a forum on the state of women in the workplace. She says more so than sexual misconduct, she's been subjected to marginalizing attitudes.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Veteran TV journalist Katie Couric recounted Thursday facing demeaning descriptions and “gross comments” during her career.

Couric spoke at consumer products maker Procter & Gamble’s Cincinnati headquarters in a forum on the state of women in the workplace. The #WeSeeEqual forum took place amid a wave of sexual misconduct claims against prominent figures in entertainment, politics and the media — including her former NBC “Today Show” co-host, Matt Lauer.

“I’ve been very fortunate in terms of not being subjected to a lot of sexual misconduct, but certainly I have been subjected to widely held attitudes about women, about compartmentalizing women,” Couric said when asked about career obstacles by Carolyn Tastad, president of P&G’s North America business group, in the forum’s keynote discussion.

Couric cited the frequent descriptions of her as “cute” and “perky,” which she found “marginalizing.” She joked that on her tombstone, it will say “Perky No More.”

She also recalled public critiques of her clothing when she began hosting “CBS Evening News,” and a jarring moment early in her career when she walked into a meeting at CNN and an executive said of her to others around the table: “She’s successful because of her hard work, intelligence and breast size.”

Couric said with support from her supervisor, a male anchor, she wrote to the executive and he soon called her, “dripping with apologies.”

Couric described the #MeToo movement as like “a long-dormant volcano that’s erupting” and said it’s important for men to be part of open discussions on gender issues, on how to make things better. But she said she thinks it “just feels almost too red-hot” for some to have such discussions publicly yet.

Couric has said she had been unaware of the misconduct allegations that led to Lauer’s ouster last year.

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