A groundbreaking “Global Report on the Status Women in the News Media” examining more than 500 companies in nearly 60 countries shows that men occupy the vast majority of the management jobs and news-gathering positions in most nations included in this study.
The International Women’s Media Foundation commissioned the study to closely examine gender equity in the news media around the world. The full report was unveiled at the International Women Media Leader’s Conference in Washington.
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 the conference on Friday, March 25. The conference is hosted by the IWMF and George Washington University’s Global Media Institute.
In this long-awaited extensive study, researchers found that 73 percent of the top management jobs are occupied by men compared to 27percent by women. Among the ranks of reporters, men hold nearly two-thirds of the jobs, compared to 36 percent held by women. However, among senior professionals, women are nearing parity with 41 percent of the news-gathering, editing and writing jobs. The new global study shows women in 26 percent of the governing and 27 percent of the top management jobs.
“it is crucial to have top management involved in decisions on these policies (to improve the status of women in newsrooms), said Kjersti Sortland, managing editor of Norway's Verdens Gang, which was named one of the model companies of its region in the global study." We agreed on having 50-50 gender equality and a strict policy on how to get there,” including evaluating managers on this."
CBC General Manager and Editor-in-Chief Jennifer McGuire recalled how an early producer of CBC’s “As It Happens” (Karen Levine) decided the show “sounded too male….She started tracking voices on air” and shaped policies to change that. “Good intentions are not enough.” CBC was named a model company for working women by researchers in the global study.
Read full report on the following link: http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf
Source: International Women’s Media Foundation
