Amal Alamuddin Plagued By Sexism

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Amal Alamuddin Plagued By Sexism

August 13, 2014, 1:08 pm

Yes, she might be marrying George Clooney - but Amal Alamuddin's accomplishments run far deeper than that.

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".

Katiedot wrote:

"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.

melbert wrote:

Katiedot wrote:

"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.

And that's how she will remain known for the rest of her life.

LornaDoone wrote:tru dat but she must have known that was a given.

fluffy wrote:The trouble is that AA hopefully knows full well what she is getting into and what tags will be given to her. That seems already to have started, and I've said before, that Georgie is gaining from her international platform status for his own projects, Sudan etc, but AA will fall by the wayside as quite rightly already mentioned, the media will just want to know what she's wearing, how high her heels are....and when the baby is due!! I do have some sympathy for her, but not a lot! I just wonder if AA fully realises just what the real deal is here, and if she can cope with being the 2nd Mrs Clooney, being forever compared to Talia, and the media watching for the cracks to begin. I still don't think it's a good match, for my own personal reasons, but George is a big boy now (ooer!!) and seems to have made his bed himself!!