Two university scholars have analysed media coverage of Whitney Wolfe Herd, CEO of Bumble and Renate Nyborg, former CEO of Tinder. They found a “pattern of sexist and patronising coverage” according to their recent article.
In a column for The Conversation, scholars Dr Riki Thompson and Dr Treena Orchard, explained that coverage of the two CEOs can be categorised into three groups: “sexy poster child”, “feminist revenge”, and “young tycoon”.
They found that coverage of Wolfe Herd often mentioned her past experience with Tinder, where she reported inappropriate sexual discrimination. Consequently, her current work with Bumble is made out to be part of a feminist revenge narrative, the column highlights.
Regarding Nyborg, initial analysis “show a persistent devaluing of women’s contributions in tech leadership” the article says.
“We need more stories about how women are challenging and changing male-driven corporate culture”, the scholars end their article by saying.