Who do you want telling you about stocks?

I was watching the last few minutes of "Early Today" on NBC, if half-listening and grunting while doing crunches on the stability ball count as watching, when they had they daily report from the business channel, CNBC. I vaguely pay attention sometimes during this segment, listening for any major news, as H is in the business, but today I actually paused and watched. Why? Because I was struck by the way the typical female reporter in a typically male field had changed over the past ten years. I wasn't sure if I was watching the CNBC report, or an ad for a singles hotline.

The reporter, Nicole Lapin, is attractive by anyone's standards (that link is to her Facebook page, dig the "sexy librarian" thing she has going on). If I told you to imagine a female financial reporter, what would you envision? Probably some talking head, with short middle-aged woman hair and tasteful clip-on earrings . For those of you who don't know Ms. Lapin, she has long, like middle of her back long, hair, wears as much makeup as a Vegas showgirl and is twenty-five years old. Does she know her stuff? Seems like it, but I wonder if her looks, or the way she presents herself can or will get in the way of her career.

Like may areas in life, there is a double standard for men and women, and in broadcast journalism I'm sure there is no exception. But it seems women of today have taken the double standard and turned it to their advantage, or think they have. We have all noticed the trend in sideline sports reporting, of young attractive women interviewing athletes as they come off the field. Remember when Howard Cosell was around? I'm sure in an effort to boost ratings, sports producers are using beautiful, young women to draw in the male viewers. Because God knows, no men watch sports already. And while these young women are making in-roads into a typically male dominated field of reporting, are they leaving a bread crumb trail behind them that only the genetically blessed, or surgically or cosmetically enhanced can follow? Will they, as they age, have the staying power to keep women a real presence in these types of broadcasts?

It seems on CNBC, they are running the gamut. One of the first, and best known financial reporters is Maria Bartiromo. I love her (shockingly, she has no Facebook page). She is hella smart and articulate. I actually enjoyed watching Squawk Box, a financial news show, with H in the morning, since Maria could dish it and take it with Mark Haines and Kahuna and the Brain (they have since changed the line-up to still contain Joe Kernen, but add Rebecca Quick and Carl Quintanilla...snore). To answer the question, yes, she's attractive, but not in the boobies-in-your-face way. She also doesn't try to hide her femininity with short hair or oddly-colored, masculine blazers, ala Suze Orman (although H does not consider her a part of CNBC since she has been co-opted by Oprah). There area whole groups of ladies who are nice to look at, but don't look like that's why the got the job. And spare me the hate mail, I know these pretty ladies had to have something between their ears to land these jobs, they blithely throw around terms so confusing to me, I feel like I'm listening to Charlie Brown's teacher, but maybe a little less lip-gloss would not be so distracting.

I know I am also promoting another kind of double standard, that attractive women can not be taken seriously, which is equally unfair. Women are sort of screwed when it comes to this because there isn't a set "uniform" for us in certain businesses, like broadcasting. Typically, men in the news, wear suits and have short hair, but for women there are so many questions. Suit or dress? Long hair or short? How much eyeliner is too much? By looking at the picture of Amanda Drury above, sometimes bad cleavage choices are made. This is like Jim Cramer wearing his shirt unbuttoned - bad idea.

It will be interesting to see how this new trend shakes out, as these women age. I even see some of the plainer types on these channels grasping at the trend the longer in the tooth they get (I'm looking at you, Trish Regan, with your hair extensions and spray tan). I wonder if it will work. It all goes back to the adage of never judging a book by it's cover, but it seems young and beautiful is becoming the only acceptable cover when putting a female face in typically male environment. Personally, I think these producers need to do some field testing, because while it may work in sports, when it comes to news, financial and otherwise, we want no-nonsense women, who can give it to us straight, like Maria, or Kaite Couric. I'd say Sylvia Wadhwa (also pictured above), but that may be going a bit far.