White House press briefing is nearly all women

Thursday’s White House press briefing was a woman-dominated event, Twitter users were quick to note.

The briefing, led by new White House press secretary Jen Psaki, featured an almost entirely female cast of characters.

Washington Post White House reporter Matt Viser tweeted that 20 minutes into the briefing, eight questions had been asked by reporters, all of whom were female. 

“Pretty impressive,” he wrote.

Pretty impressive that, 20 minutes into the White House briefing, there have been eight reporters who have asked questions. All female. With questions answered by a female press secretary.

— Matt Viser (@mviser) January 28, 2021

Other Twitter users took note as well.

It’s so lovely to note that almost all the press in the room were women – women asking intelligent questions in a civil & polite manner & being answered in the same way. What a relief from when the press were mostly belligerent men bellowing insults to a bubbleheaded Barbie!

— HooDatGurl (@HooDatGurl333) January 28, 2021

@PressSec love seeing so many women reporters in today’s Whitehouse daily press briefing.

— Rebecca Thompson (@RReeThompson) January 28, 2021

Rob Crilly, a White House correspondent for the Washington Examiner, noted that he was the only male journalist who was seated in the area of the briefing room most visible on camera.

“I’m the only male journalist with a briefing room seat today so I figured I would make an effort,” he joked, tweeting out a photo of himself looking attentive.

I’m the only male journalist with a briefing room seat today so I figured I would make an effort https://t.co/mrP9hFWnc7

— Rob Crilly (@robcrilly) January 28, 2021

In recent weeks, many major news outlets have positioned women to lead their coverage of the new Biden administration. ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN all now have female chief White House correspondents — a notable deviation from the typically male-dominated position.