Is a Stock Photo Worth a Thousand Words?

By Elizabeth Timme, Ice Miller LLP

Washington Post editor Lillian Cunningham observed that in her searches for stock photos to use with stories relating to women in the workplace, the options were limited. Women in stock photos were usually portrayed, she noticed, in one of three ways: "a woman with cat-eye glasses who looks like a secretary, a woman balancing her briefcase and her baby, and a woman standing atop a shorter stack of money than the man next to her[.]" In an effort to respond to this pigeonholing of women, Getty Images (a major stock photography company) and LeanIn.org (the group founded by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg) announced earlier this year that the two organizations would partner to create a gallery of 2,500 stock photos depicting women and girls in more empowering -- and less stereotypical -- scenarios.

You can read the Washington Post article and check out a selection of the images here.

This post was written by Elizabeth Timme, Ice Miller LLP. If you would like to submit content or write an article for the Young Lawyers Division page, please email Mary Kay Price at mprice@indybar.org.