By Kathy Groob, Publisher ElectWomen Magazine – Many of us begin our days with a cup of joe and the morning news.  Lately, while enjoying my cup of joe, Morning Joe is getting under my skin.  A self-confessed political junkie, I watch and listen to Morning Joe each day while exercising, getting dressed and eating breakfast.  It’s a great format with its bi-partisan, lively banter.  When I tweeted recently “More Mika, less Joe,” I was serious.  It’s getting tougher each day to swallow the openly blatant male domination (and sometimes sexist) behavior along with my bowl of oatmeal.

For much of the program while the “boys club” chats it up, Mika sits there silently and even sometimes reading her Blackberry.  The seating at the morning table typically includes four men and Mika Brzezinski, the author of the great new book to help women, titled Knowing Your Value. Lately, I’ve begun to wonder, “Where is Mika’s voice?” when co-host Joe Scarborough constantly steps on her and cuts her off.

Women guests like Tina Brown, Andrea Mitchell, ….are frequent visitors on the show, but there is generally no more than one female guest at a time and unless Joe is off refilling his cup of coffee, Mika is basically excluded from the conversation except for some news lead-ins.  Don’t get me wrong, while I often disagree with Joe Scarborough’s politics, I enjoy his sense of fairness and am not turned off by a spirited political debate.

Women candidates are rarely featured on the program, and there is little talk about women in politics in general.  Scarborough and Brzezinski are billed as the co-hosts of Morning Joe but until both names appear along with the famous coffee stain logo, Brzezinsiki will continue to be dominated by her male partner.

Women in politics need Mika’s voice and at least we need her to be treated as an equal and to be given the opportunity for her thoughts to be heard without having to shout.  It’s time for the old-fashioned macho boys club attitude to end on Morning Joe.  The brother-sister bantering can be fun at times, but Joe dominating Mika on a daily basis is getting old.