Media

By Sajana J on Thursday, May 19, 2011 - 21:13

Sajana J sums up the results of a recent study on gender equity in media organisations from across the world.

A random survey of news channels in India usually throws up a few known women faces. Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghosh et all, grace the TV most evenings. Newspapers too have their familiar names. And going by the number of female students passing out from media schools around the country, one might be fooled into thinking that women are well represented in the media. Unfortunately, that thought is just wide off the mark.

A recent study commissioned by The International Women’s Media Foundation examines the question of gender equity in news media around the world. This ground breaking “Global Report on the Status Women in the News Media” examines more than 500 companies in nearly 60 countries  and reveals that men occupy the vast majority of the management jobs and news-gathering positions in most nations included in this study. In this long-awaited extensive study, researchers found that 73 percent of the top management jobs are occupied by men compared to 27 percent by women. Among the ranks of reporters, men hold nearly two-thirds of the jobs, compared to 36 percent held by women. Only in the very senior positions, do we have some semblance of gender equity, says the report, though countries in Asia and the Oceania region, women buck the trend with barely 13 percent representation in senior management.

A 2004 study by Pamela Bhagat initiated by the National Commission for Women to understand status of women journalists in India had revealed rampant discrimination. Conducted among 46 percent regional press in India and about 54 percent English press, the study showed that women journalists are often assigned art and culture or fashion beats, and not other topics, based on their organization’s concern that they won’t be able to work night shifts. 20.5 percent of respondents said they were discriminated against for promotion, of which 45.5 percent felt it was because of their sex. 29.2 percent responded that having children affected promotion. Sexual harassment, age discrimination, and whether they were under- or overqualified, were listed as other factors hindering women’s upward mobility in their organizations.

So how is the glass ceiling going to crack? For starters, a powerful gathering of nearly 75 women media executives from around the world analyzed the report and voted on a plan of action to “level the playing field” for women in newsrooms in their home countries at a conference in George Washington University’s Global Media Institute on March 25.

Any more pointers? Share them here.

Sajana J has been involved in photography, designing and occasional writing.