Women and mass media
State of the art report realized by Giulia Pozzi
(in the framework of an internship at Amazone organized by SafariJob and Eurodesk)
December 2012
vzw Amazone asbl – Middaglijnstraat 10 Rue du Méridien – Brussel 1210 Bruxelles
T +32 2 229 38 00 – F + 32 2 229 38 01 – docu@amazone.be – http://www.amazone.be
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
Table of contents
Introduction
Part 1: World level
1) The United Nation Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace –
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995
1.1
Overview
1.2
Beijing Platform for Action: Women and Media
a)
Increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in and through the
media and new technologies of communication
b) Promote a balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media
1.3 Results of Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: 15 years later
2) A Roadmap for equality between women and men 2006-2010
2.1 Overview
2.2 Results of the Roadmap
3) Global report on the status of women in News Media (IWMF)
3.1 Overview: About the WAAC
3.2 About the Global Media Monitoring Project 2010 (GMMP)
3.3 Research methodology
3.4 Report of 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project: Who makes the news?
a)
News subjects
b) News content
c)
Delivering the news
d) Internet news
4) Global report on the status of women in News Media
4.1 Overview: About the IMWF
4.2 Research methodology
4.3 General results
a)
Position held by women
b) Under-representation, glass ceiling and relative parity
c)
Policies on gender equality
d) Policies on sexual harassment
e)
Policies related to maternity, paternity and child care
f)
Salaries
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
Part 2: European Level
1) Global Media Monitoring Project
1
News content
2
News subject
3
Delivering the news
2) Global report on the status of women in News Media
2.1
a)
Nordic Europe
Overview
b) Position held by women
c)
Salary
d) Gender-related company policies
2.2
a)
Western Europe
Overview
b) Occupational status of women
c)
Salary
d) Gender-related company policies
2.3
a)
Eastern Europe
Overview
b) Occupational status of women
c)
Salary
d) Gender-related company policies
Part 3: Belgium
1) Global Media Monitoring Project
1.1
News subjects
1.2
News content
1.3
Delivering the news
2) Etude comparative des politiques des régulateurs membres du REFRAM en matière d’égalité
hommes-femmes (Comparative study on regulatory REFRAM members concerning equality between
genders)
2.1
Authorization and control
2.2
Evaluation
2.3
Co-regulation and auto-regulation
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
3) Egalité, multiculturalité et inclusion sociale. Présence et représentation des femmes dans les services
de radiodiffusion (Equality, multiculturalism and social inclusion. Presence and representation of
women in radio broadcasting services) - Representation of female’s image by broadcasting services
3.1
Women’s presence in broadcasting services
3.2
Representation of female’s image by broadcasting services
3.3
Journalistic treatment referred to case of violence against women
3.3
Tools and assessments
4) Baromètre de la Diversité et de l’Egalité 2012 (2012 Diversity and Equality Barometer)
4.1 Overview
4.2 Female presence in television
4.3 Journalists in the information
4.4 Presenters of the entertainment
4.5 Subjects’ identification – Mentions
4.6
Subjects’ identification – Victims / authors of reprehensible acts / good example
5) Panorama des bonne pratiques en matière d’égalité et de diversité (Good practices Panorama as
regards equality and diversity)
Part 4: Gender stereotyping in mass media
1) Egalité, multiculturalité et inclusion sociale. Présence et représentation des femmes dans les services
de radiodiffusion (Equality, multiculturalism and social inclusion. Presence and representation of
women in radio broadcasting services) - Representation of female’s image by broadcasting services
1.1
European actions
1.2
Belgian laws
2) Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men – Opinion on “Breaking gender
stereotypes in the media”
3) Global Media Monitoring Project
2.1 Gender stereotypes in traditional media
2.2 Gender stereotypes in the Internet
2.3 Gender stereotypes in European media
2.4 Gender stereotypes in Belgian media
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
Introduction
The relationship existing between women and mass media has always been complicated.
Indeed, in both working positions and mentions, their under-representation it is given.
Many surveys have confirmed this tendency, which is not relegated on the local level, but
it is largely widespread all-around the world. Women’s image given by the media is a
controversial topic as well and also an issue hard to regulate by law.
The survey has been divided in for parts:
The first one is focused on the world level and takes in consideration several researches:
the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, A Roadmap for equality between
women and men 2006-2010, the Global report on the status of women in News Media
(IWMF), and the Global report on the status of women in News Media.
The second part considers the European level from the point of view of the Global Media
Monitoring Project, and the one of the Global report on the status of women in News
Media (IWMF).
The third part is focused on the Belgian level, and makes reference to the Global Media
Monitoring Project, the Comparative study on regulatory REFRAM members concerning
equality between genders, Equality, multiculturalism and social inclusion, the survey
Presence and representation of women in radio broadcasting services, the one called
2012 Diversity and Equality Barometer, and finally the booklet Good practices Panorama
as regards equality and diversity.
The fourth part, finally, is concentrated to female stereotyping in mass media. The main
projects considered have been the Equality, multiculturalism and social inclusion.
Presence and representation of women in broadcasting services, the Advisory Committee
on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men – Opinion on “Breaking gender stereotypes in
the media”, and the Global Media Monitoring Project.
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
Part 1: World level
1) The United Nation Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality,
Development and Peace – Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/Beijing%20full%20report%20E.pdf
1.1 Overview
The Fourth World Conference on Women is an international meeting promoted by the
United Nations in 1995 and focused on gender issues. 189
Governments and more than 5,000 representatives from
2,100 non-governmental organizations participated in this
event1.
The
Conference
was
centered
on
female
empowerment and mainstreaming. The first concept is
referred to active participation of women in the decisional
processes and to their acquisition of power. The second
term,
instead,
concerns
the
necessity
of
introduce
women’s issues into general politics. For these reasons,
during the Conference has also been underlined the
Figure : Poster of the Fourth Global
Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995)
importance
of
include
gender
equality
in
all
public
institutions and policies of the UN member States.
The resulting documents of the Conference are the Beijing Declaration and the Platform
for Action, two global commitments to achieve peace, development and equality for
women worldwide. The overriding message of this Conference on Women was that the
questions addressed in the Platform for Action are global and universal. The aims of the
Platform for Action, that is an agenda for women’s empowerment, are numerous, and
they have been divided in different fields:
1
•
“Women and poverty;
•
Educational and Training of Women;
•
Women and health;
•
Violence against Women;
•
Women and armed conflict;
•
Women and economy;
•
Women in power and decision-making;
•
Institutional mechanism for the advancement of Women;
•
Human rights of Women;
•
Women and Media;
•
Women and the environment;
http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/Fourth_World_Conference_on_Women
6
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
The Girl-child”2.
Seeing the aim of this research, I will focus only on the part named “Women and Media”.
1.2 Beijing Platform for Action: Women and Media
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/media.htm#diagnosis
The chapter referred to women and media is divided in two strategic objectives:
“Increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in
and through the media and new technologies of communication”, and “Promote a
balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media”3.
a) Increase the participation and access of women to expression and decisionmaking in and through the media and new technologies of communication
At the beginning of this chapter, a statement affirms that “More women are involved in
careers in the communications sector, but few have attained positions at the decisionmaking level or serve on governing boards and bodies that influence media policy. The
lack of gender sensitivity in the media is evidenced by the failure to eliminate the
gender-based stereotyping that can be found in public and private local, national and
international media organizations”4. Women’s presence in the decision-making level of
media and the persistence of gender stereotypes are therefore connected. The Action
Plan continues providing for an active commitment of Governments, national and
international media system, non-governmental organizations and media professional
associations.
The actions assigned to the Governments are:
•
“Support women's education, training and employment to promote and ensure
women's equal access to all areas and levels of the media;
•
Support research into all aspects of women and the media so as to define areas
needing attention and action and review existing media policies with a view to
integrating a gender perspective;
•
Promote
women's
full
and
equal
participation
in
the
media,
including
management, programming, education, training and research;
•
Aim at gender balance in the appointment of women and men to all advisory,
management, regulatory or monitoring bodies, including those connected to the
private and State or public media;
2
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/index.html
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/media.htm#diagnosis
4
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/media.htm#diagnosis
3
7
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
Encourage, to the extent consistent with freedom of expression, these bodies to
increase the number of programmes for and by women to see to it that women's
needs and concerns are properly addressed;
•
Encourage and recognize women's media networks, including electronic networks
and other new technologies of communication, as a means for the dissemination
of information and the exchange of views, including at the international level, and
support women's groups active in all media work and systems of communications
to that end;
•
Encourage and provide the means or incentives for the creative use of
programmes in the national media for the dissemination of information on various
cultural forms of indigenous people and the development of social and educational
issues in this regard within the framework of national law;
•
Guarantee the freedom of the media and its subsequent protection within the
framework of national law and encourage, consistent with freedom of expression,
the positive involvement of the media in development and social issues”5.
National and international media systems, instead, are responsible for the development
of those mechanisms (freedom of expression and regulatory mechanism) that promote
women’s participation in decision-making positions and balanced portrayals of them.
Governments or national machinery for the advancement of women should:
•
Encourage the development of educational programmes for women for the
purpose to produce mass media information;
•
Encourage the use of communication tools, including new technologies, in order to
favour women’s participation in democratic process;
•
Encourage women’s participation aimed at the promotion of non-stereotyped and
balanced portrayals of their image by the media.
Finally, non-governmental organizations and media professional organizations are
responsible to:
•
“Encourage the establishment of media watch groups that can monitor the media
and consult with the media to ensure that women's needs and concerns are
properly reflected;
•
Train women to make greater use of information technology for communication
and the media, including at the international level;
•
Create
networks
among
and
develop
information
programmes
for
non-
governmental organizations, women's organizations and professional media
5
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/media.htm
8
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
organizations in order to recognize the specific needs of women in the media, and
facilitate the increased participation of women in communication, in particular at
the international level, in support of South-South and North-South dialogue
among and between these organizations, inter alia, to promote the human rights
of women and equality between women and men;
•
Encourage the media industry and education and media training institutions to
develop, in appropriate languages, traditional, indigenous and other ethnic forms
of media, such as story-telling, drama, poetry and song, reflecting their cultures,
and utilize these forms of communication to disseminate information on
development and social issues”6.
b) Promote a balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media
The principal actors identified in this part are National Governments, international
organizations,
mass
media,
advertisement
organizations,
non-governmental
organizations and national machinery for the advancement of women. According to the
Platform for Action, “The continued projection of negative and degrading images of
women in media communications - electronic, print, visual and audio - must be changed.
Print and electronic media in most countries do not provide a balanced picture of
women's diverse lives and contributions to society in a changing world. In addition,
violent and degrading or pornographic media products are also negatively affecting
women and their participation in society. Programming that reinforces women's
traditional roles can be equally limiting. The world- wide trend towards consumerism has
created a climate in which advertisements and commercial messages often portray
women primarily as consumers and target girls and women of all ages inappropriately”7.
Governments and international organizations have the tasks of:
•
“Promote research and implementation of a strategy of information, education and
communication aimed at promoting a balanced portrayal of women and girls and
their multiple roles;
•
Encourage the media and advertising agencies to develop specific programmes to
raise awareness of the Platform for Action;
•
Encourage gender-sensitive training for media professionals, including media
owners and managers, to encourage the creation and use of non-stereotyped,
balanced and diverse images of women in the media;
•
Encourage the media to refrain from presenting women as inferior beings and
exploiting them as sexual objects and commodities, rather than presenting them
6
7
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/media.htm
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/media.htm#object2
9
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
as creative human beings, key actors and contributors to and beneficiaries of the
process of development;
•
Promote the concept that the sexist stereotypes displayed in the media are
gender discriminatory, degrading in nature and offensive;
•
Take effective measures or institute such measures, including appropriate
legislation against pornography and the projection of violence against women and
children in the media”8.
Instead, mass media and advertising organizations are in charge of:
•
“Develop, consistent with freedom of expression, professional guidelines and
codes of conduct and other forms of self-regulation to promote the presentation of
non-stereotyped images of women;
•
Establish, consistent with freedom of expression, professional guidelines and
codes of conduct that address violent, degrading or pornographic materials
concerning women in the media, including advertising;
•
Develop a gender perspective on all issues of concern to communities, consumers
and civil society;
•
Increase women's participation in decision-making at all levels of the media”9.
Finally,
the
media,
non-governmental
organizations
and
the
private
sector,
in
collaboration with national machinery for the advancement of women have to:
•
“Promote the equal sharing of family responsibilities through media campaigns
that emphasize gender equality and non-stereotyped gender roles of women and
men within the family and that disseminate information aimed at eliminating
spousal and child abuse and all forms of violence against women, including
domestic violence;
•
Produce and/or disseminate media materials on women leaders, inter alia, as
leaders who bring to their positions of leadership many different life experiences,
including but not limited to their experiences in balancing work and family
responsibilities, as mothers, as professionals, as managers and as entrepreneurs,
to provide role models, particularly to young women;
•
Promote extensive campaigns, making use of public and private educational
programmes, to disseminate information about and increase awareness of the
human rights of women;
8
9
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/media.htm#object2
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/media.htm#object2
10
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
Support the development of and finance, as appropriate, alternative media and
the use of all means of communication to disseminate information to and about
women and their concerns;
•
Develop approaches and train experts to apply gender analysis with regard to
media programmes”10.
1.3 Results of Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: 15 years later
http://daccess-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N10/305/76/PDF/N1030576.pdf?OpenElement
Every 5 years after the adoption of Beijing Declaration and Platform Action, the UN
Commission on the Status of Women have made a report to review the outcomes of the
Fourth World Conference on Women. The last one is dated 2010 and it is focused on
different thematic referred to 1995 Conference: after the assertion of the necessity to
reaffirm and implement of Beijing Declaration and Platform Action, it takes in account
Palestinian, HIV/AIDS and development issues. The Commission talks about the relation
between women and media in two chapters: the first on is named Women’s economic
empowerment in the context of the global economic and financial crisis, and it is
contained in Declaration 504/101 (Implementing the internationally agreed goals and
commitments in regard to gender equality and empowerment of women):
“15. Strong measures are needed to eliminate stereotypical attitudes regarding the role
of women and men in society, which limit women’s participation in the labour market.
The role of families in early gender socialization remains critical in the elimination of
gender stereotypes. In addition, opportunities should be sought to enhance the role of
the media in providing a more balanced and realistic portrayal of women, including in
leadership positions”11.
The second one is contained is the Chapter Communication concerning the status of
women, and it is referred to the link existing between mass media e violence against
women:
“Sexual violence against women and girls, including rape, gang rape, forced prostitution,
threats of rape, sexual harassment and incitement to sexual violence through gender
stereotyping and the promotion of rape in new media, committed by private individuals,
teachers, detainees, and military, security and law enforcement personnel, including in
detention-related situations, as well as failure by States, resulting in a climate of
10
11
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/media.htm#object2
http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N10/305/76/PDF/N1030576.pdf?OpenElement page 46
11
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
impunity, to exercise due diligence to prevent such violations, and to adequately and in a
timely manner investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators, failure to provide
adequate protection and support for victims and their families, including medical and
psychological care, and failure to ensure access to justice”12
2) A Roadmap for equality between women and men 2006-2010
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2006:0092:FIN:EN:PDF
2.1 Overview
The Roadmap for gender equality between women and men was approved by the
European Commission in 2006. It is divided in two parts.
In the first one it “outlines six priority areas for EU action
on gender equality for the period 2006-2010:
1) equal economic independence for women and
men;
2) reconciliation of private and professional life;
3) equal representation in decision-making;
4) eradication of all forms of gender-based violence;
5) elimination of gender stereotypes;
Figure : official cover of the Roadmap for
Equality between Women and Men 2006
- 2010
6) promotion of gender equality in external and
development policies”13.
The fifth chapter, elimination of gender stereotypes, is divided in three different subparts.
For each area, the Roadmap identifies some priority objectives, whereof one is related to
mass media:
•
Elimination of gender stereotypes in education, training and culture;
•
Elimination of gender stereotypes in the labour market;
•
And Elimination of gender stereotypes in the media, which affirms that “The
media have a crucial role to play in combating gender stereotypes. It can
contribute to presenting a realistic picture of the skills and potential of women and
men in modern society and avoid portraying them in a degrading and offensive
manner. Dialogue with stakeholders and awareness-raising campaigns should be
promoted at all levels”14.
12
http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N10/305/76/PDF/N1030576.pdf?OpenElement page 90
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2006:0092:FIN:EN:PDF page 2
14
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2006:0092:FIN:EN:PDF page 8
13
12
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
The Roadmap also provides for the identification of different key actions, but a very little
space is given to those actions related to gender image in mass media:
•
“support actions to eliminate gender stereotypes in education, culture and on the
labour market by promoting gender mainstreaming and specific actions in the
ESF, ICT programmes and in EU education and culture programmes, including EU
Lifelong Learning strategy and the future Integrated Lifelong Learning programne;
•
support awareness-raising campaigns and exchange of good practices in schools
and enterprises on non-stereotyped gender roles and develop dialogue with media
to encourage a non-stereotyped portrayal of women and men;
•
raise awareness on gender equality in dialogue with EU citizens through the
Commission's plan for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate”15.
In the second part, the Roadmap takes considers to improve governance for gender
equality, asking the collaboration of politics at each level. Particularly, it is affirmed that
“The planned European Institute for Gender Equality will provide expertise, improving
knowledge and heightening visibility on gender equality. (…) The implementation of
gender equality methodologies such as gender impact assessment and gender budgeting
(the implementation of a gender perspective in budgetary process) will promote gender
equality and provide for greater transparency and enhance accountability”16
Indicators for monitoring progress are also provided, but unfortunately those related to
the elimination of gender stereotypes in media are just described as “to be further
developed”.
2.2 Results of the Roadmap
http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2011:236E:0087:0099:EN:PDF
A first evaluation on the results of Roadmap is contained in the 2011 Assessment of the
2006-2010 Roadmap, which “Welcomes the integration of gender equality as a priority
into Community education and training programmes, with the aim of reducing
stereotypes in society; regrets, however, that persistent gender stereotypes still serve as
a basis for many inequalities; therefore calls on the Commission and the Member States
to launch awareness-raising campaigns to break down stereotypes and traditional gender
roles, in particular campaigns targeting men which highlight the need to share family
responsibilities”17. The Assessment is composed by two parts: Institutional level and
15
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2006:0092:FIN:EN:PDF page 8-9
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2006:0092:FIN:EN:PDF page 11
17
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2011:236E:0087:0099:EN:PDF
16
13
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
Policy areas – aims. No references to gender stereotypes are contained in the chapter
named institutional level. The Policy areas – aims, on the other hand:
•
“Advocates policies and measures aimed at eradicating violence against women in
every walk of life by promoting the human rights of women, combating gender
stereotypes and all forms of discrimination in society and the family, not least in
education, training, the media and politics;
•
maintains that specific policies should be developed which promote gender
equality, empower women, better educate individuals – including through
awareness-raising campaigns – and promote lifelong learning strategies and
specific measures for women;
•
Emphasises the importance of combating stereotypes in all walks and at all stages
of life, since these are one of the most persistent causes of inequality between
men and women, affecting their choices in the field of education, training and
employment, the distribution of domestic and family responsibilities, participation
in public life and participation and representation in decision-making positions,
and their choices regarding the labour market”18.
3) Global Media Monitoring Project
The most important project on women and mass media ever realized at world level is the
Global Media Monitoring Project. This project has been created by the World Association
for Christian Communication (WAAC) and by others international organizations that
promote communication rights for social change.
3.1 Overview: About the WAAC
http://www.waccglobal.org/#&panel1-2
Based in London, the current WAAC was founded in 1975,
even if its history began in 1950. It is an ecumenical
organization
perspective
who
and
works
according
promotes
to
the
communication
Christian
for
social
change. Specifically, it believes that “communication is a
Figure : WACC logo
basic human right that defines people's common humanity, strengthens cultures, enables
participation, creates community, and challenges tyranny and oppression”19. One of its
main topics is media and gender justice.
Based on this belief, WACC's general aims are:
18
19
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2011:236E:0087:0099:EN:PDF
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/who-is-wacc.html
14
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
“to promote democratic forms of communication which encourage dialogue and
debate, enhance people's creativity and solidarity, and respond to people's needs;
•
to contribute towards building a communications environment that is open to all
and founded on respect for human dignity;
•
to support processes that lead to the democratization of the mass media including
advocacy, reflection, policy development, and networking;
•
to implement communication programs and to support projects that lead to the
empowerment
of
people,
especially
the
dispossessed
and
marginalized,
indigenous peoples, refugees, migrants, women, children and people with
disabilities”20.
3.2 About the Global Media Monitoring Project 2010 (GMMP)
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/
According to its website, “the Global Media Monitoring Project is the largest and longest
longitudinal study on the representation of women in the world’s media. It is also the
largest advocacy initiative in the world on changing the
representation of women in the media.
It is unique in
involving participants ranging from grassroots community
organizations to university students and researchers to media
practitioners, all of whom participate on a voluntary basis”21.
Figure : Global Media Monitoring Each five years, this team collects all the worldwide
Project logo
information about representation of women in the media. This
project was born in 1995 and it had four editions until now, so the last version available
is dated 2010.
The aims of the Global Media Monitoring Project are:
•
“to map the representation and portrayal of women in the world’s news media;
•
to develop a grassroots research instrument;
•
to build solidarity among gender and communication groups worldwide;
•
to create media awareness;
•
to develop media monitoring skills on an international level”22.
3.3 Research methodology
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/gmmp-20092010-methodology.html
The GMMP’s methodology concerns both quantitative and qualitative monitoring. The first
one is referred to numerical data, and its aim is to collect specific information on the
20
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/who-is-wacc.html
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/gmmp-background.html
22
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/gmmp-background.html
21
15
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
number of men and women in the world’s news, the role they plays in news making, the
quantity of news related to them, etc. The second one concerns the qualitative analysis
of quantitative data, to give a more complete picture of news content: “For instance, we
might find that women appear in 10 percent of stories about politics. But how do these
stories actually portray women? In fact a story about a female politician may fall into as
many stereotyped clichés as a story about a beauty queen”23. The practical research
takes place worldwide during a default day (last time was on 10 November 2009), and
volunteers record data at regional and national level about newspapers, televisions and
radios stories. “1,281 newspapers, television and radio stations were monitored in 108
countries for the fourth GMMP. The research covered 16,734 news items, 20,769 news
personnel (announcers, presenters and reporters), and 35,543 total news subjects.
Internet news monitoring was introduced on a pilot basis for the first time in the GMMP.
76 national news websites in 16 countries and 8 international news websites containing
1,061 news items, 2,710 news subjects and 1,044 news personnel were studied”24. After
this analysis, all the data are sent to and combined by the base of the project (South
Africa).
3.4 Report of 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project: Who makes the news?
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/images/stories/website/gmmp_reports/2010/global/g
mmp_global_report_en.pdf
The Global Media Monitoring Project is the world’s most
significant and extended global research on gender in news
media. Results of the Project are contained in the final report
Who makes the news? As said before, the GMMP takes place
every five years. Results of 1995, 2000 and 2005 previous
editions
have
shown
that
women
were
extremely
underrepresented in news coverage in contrast to men.
Outcomes
of
2010
Underrepresentation,
Figure : official cover of the 2010
report Who makes the news?
analysis
prevalence
are
of
not
stereotypes
better.
and
insufficient media coverage are cited as real obstacles to equal
opportunity of freedom of expression.
The fourth Global Media Monitoring Project has seen an explosion in participation,
particularly referred to Africa (especially French speaking countries), Asia, the Caribbean,
23
24
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
the Middle East, the Pacific, Europe and North Africa. The expansion of the GMMP in Arab
speaking countries is particularly noteworthy25.
Results from each country had been elaborated to give a worldwide overview about
women and mass media, especially referred to women as news subjects, reporters and
presenters.
a) News subjects
One of the firsts important results given by the GMMP is the percentage of women as
news subjects (intend as people whom the news is about or who are interviewed). “Only
24% of the people heard or read about in print, radio and television news are female. In
contrast, 76% of the people in the news are male”26. As it is possible to see in the table
below (figure 6), these three medium give a similar coverage to women. The one that
has had the best progress from 1995 to 2010 is print, whereas television has reported
the most stagnant values. Nevertheless, all these Medias have had an increase about
female presence in the news, but women and girls remain strongly underrepresented
compared to men.
Media
1995
Print
Television
Radio
16%
21%
15%
Overall
17%
2000
2005
2010
17%
22%
13%
21%
22%
17%
24%
24%
22%
18%
21%
24%
Figure : percentage of female news subjects by medium, by year (Source: 2010 Who makes the news?)
These data are also rearranged and focused on world regions: the results are that Latin
America is the most notable region, with a women’s presence increase of 6 percentage
points, and the Middle East is most stagnant one, with an increase of just 2 points. The
apparent regression of women’s presence in African media (from 22% to 19%) can be
explained by the increase of African countries participating at the Project.
Another variant took in consideration is the geographical level of the news. From 1995 to
2010 women’s average presence on media is passed from 17% to 24%, and particularly:
•
at local level from 22% to 26%
•
at National level from 14% to 23%
25
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26
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
at National and other levels (news involving other countries in addition to that in
which story is coded) from 17% to 20%
•
at foreign and International level from 17% to 26%
Therefore, presence of women has grown at each geographical level, but it is still too low
in comparison with men’s one.
In 2010, women outnumbered men only in four out of the 52 GMMP story sub-topics:
•
News about the girl-child, including cultural attitudes and practices impinging on
girls, education, health, economic exploitation, violence … (69%)
•
Family relations, single parents … (58%)
•
Women's participation in economic processes (58%)
•
Changing gender relations, roles and relationships of women and men inside and
outside the home … (61%)
On the other hand, females were underrepresented in all other stories, particularly those
focused on:
•
Economic indicators, statistics, business, trade, stock markets … (14%)
•
National defense, military spending, military training, military parades, internal
security … (13%)
•
Sports, events, players, facilities, training, policies, funding … (13%)
•
Global partnerships (international trade and finance systems, e.g. WTO, IMF,
World Bank, debt) … (13%)
•
Rural economy, agriculture, farming practices, agricultural policy, land rights …
(12%)
The position occupied in news by women is an important data as well, and it gives a
realistic image about the quality of female presence. Taking in consideration the period
going from 2000 to 2010, the news frequently talking about women were those focused
on:
•
Homemaker, parent
•
Student, pupil, schoolchild
•
Child, young person (up to 18 years)
•
Office or service worker, non-management worker in office, store, restaurant,
catering …
Instead, positions less covered by women (according to media vision) were:
•
Business person, executive, manager, entrepreneur, economist, financial expert,
stock broker …
18
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
Sportsperson, athlete, player, coach, referee …
•
Science or technology professional, engineer, technician, computer specialist …
•
Police, military, para-military group, militia, prison officer, security officer, fire
officer …
The interesting aspect of these data is that the image proposed by media tends to give a
false conception of women’s real occupation in the society: “the picture painted through
the news remains discordant with the reality; the world presented is one in which men
outnumber women in almost all occupations. The highest disparity is in the professions.
Of the total number of news subjects identified, portrayed or represented as educators,
an overwhelming 69% are male, as health professionals (69%), as legal professionals
(83%), as public/civil servants (83%), and as scientists (90%). Women’s share in all
professions is much higher in reality. The picture seen through the news becomes one of
a world where women are almost absent as participants in work outside the home”27.
As person heard or interviewed in the news, usually women are part of the “ordinary”
people category, a term referred to
those citizens who provide witness
accounts, share personal experiences
or give popular opinion reflecting the
ones of ordinary citizens (see figure
7). On the other hand, men continues
to
dominate
in
the
“expert”
categories, which include those people
providing
comments
based
on
expertise or specialist knowledge, or
Figure : women portrayed as ordinary people (Source: 2010 Who
makes the news?)
are
spokespersons
representing
groups.
Moreover, women are more likely not to be identified as workers, not to be associated to
a profession or not to be pictured as participants in social, political or economic life. In
contrast, men are usually identified as professionals in the entire range of functions in
which they appear in the news, whether as ‘spokespersons’, as givers of popular opinion,
as ‘experts’, or as ‘eyewitnesses’. Numerically the representation is highly overbalanced
in favour of male, given that 75% of people speaking in the news are men.
27
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
Another important aspect is that female news subjects
are identified by family status four times more than men.
As it is reported in GMMP Project, “The overall continued
patterns where women are almost 4 times as likely as
men to be identified by their family status goes against
efforts to assert women’s autonomy as individuals with
roles, rights and responsibilities in the broader society
beyond the home and household. It also discursively redraws a gender divide in familial responsibilities that in Figure : news subjects identified by family
reality is being eroded by men’s increasing childcare
status, by sex (Source: 2010 Who makes
the news?)
roles, as women work in paid labour outside the home”28. These data do not change on
the base of reporters’ gender.
Finally, women appear in photographs in newspapers more than men (26% in contrast
with 17%). A qualitative analysis of photographs found that while men are usually
photographed from the head up or fully clothed, women’s bodies are usually pictured in
various states of undress.
b) News content
With the term news content is meant the “centrality of women” in media news. The
GMMP research has found that women are the main subject only in 13% of stories. On
average, the centrality of women in the news is increased from 2005, especially in
“politics/government”, “health/science” and “economy” fields. Instead, female subjects
are still not frequent in “social/legal”, “crime/violence” and “celebrity” news. The sex of
reporters plays an important role regarding the centrality of women in the news:
“Breaking down the 2010 data by region reveals varying patterns. In Africa, Europe and
Latin America, stories by female reporters are more likely to raise issues of gender
equality or inequality than stories by male reporters. In Africa 7% of stories by female
reporters compared to 4% by male reporters evoke (in)equality issues. In Europe the
statistics are 7% of stories by women and 3% of stories by men while in Latin America
the findings are 12% and 10% for female and male reporters respectively. The difference
noted in North America is statistically insignificant while none at all was found in Asia and
the Middle East. The Caribbean region is striking in that stories by male reporters (18%)
are to a larger extent more likely to highlight (in)equality issues than stories by female
reporters (10%)”29.
At world level, their centrality in the news is more frequent in:
28
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29
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
“News about the girl child, including, cultural attitudes and practices impinging on
girls, education, health, economic exploitation, violence… (71%)
•
Women in political power and decision-making (local, regional, national)… (69%)
•
Women's participation in economic processes (informal work, paid employment,
unemployment, unpaid labour) (69%)
•
Women's
movement,
activism,
events,
demonstrations,
gender
equality
advocacy… (62%)
•
Gender-based
violence,
feminicide,
harassment,
domestic
violence,
rape,
trafficking, genital mutilation (54%)
•
Child abuse, sexual violence against children, trafficking, neglect (54%)”30
On the other hand, women’s presence is nearly nonexistent in news referred to:
•
“Environment, nature,
•
Other labour issues, strikes, trade unions, negotiations, other employment and
pollution, global warming, ecology, tourism … (4%)
unemployment … (4%)
•
Science, technology, research, funding, discoveries, developments … (4%)
•
Economic crisis, state bailouts of companies, company takeovers and mergers …
(3%)
•
Economic policies, strategies, models (national, international) … (2%)
•
Transport, traffic, roads … (1%)
•
Rural economy, agriculture, farming practices, agricultural policy, land rights …
(1%)”31
c) Delivering the news
The
number
of
female
presenters and reporters
is an important data as
well.
In
2010,
women
have presented 52% of
stories on television and
45% of them on radio
(average combined total:
49%). As it is possible to
see in the figure 9, the
Figure : stories by female presenters and reporters (Source: 2010 Who makes the
news?)
2010 average percentage is lower than the 2005 one (53%). The regional statistics for
30
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31
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
radio show that only in Europe and in Middle East the percentage of female reporters
equalizes men’s one (50%). Sex disparity exists in all other regions, particularly in the
Caribbean and Latin America, where women reporter are respectively 16% and 29%.
This situation is partially overturned in the television field, where female presenters in
the Caribbean and in Asia exceed men presenters (respectively 60% and 52%). Data
show a good world representation of women from all the ages’ brackets and record an
important increase especially in the one of 50-64 years old (from 7% in 2005 to 51% in
2010). Despite these data, the world percentage of stories reported by women in 2010
(49%) is decreased in relation to the 2005 one (53%) and it is returned at the 2000
level.
According to the GMMP report “Closer scrutiny of the regional breakdown of news stories
by sex of reporter by medium shows a common pattern.
Across all mediums in all
regions, stories by women comprise less than 50% of the total number of those reported,
with the exception of stories on television in the Caribbean. In most regions, women
report between 20% and 40% of all news stories. The Caribbean leads with the highest
proportion of stories by newspaper female reporters (48%) as well as by female
reporters on television (51%). The Caribbean is interesting given that at the same time,
the region lags behind in the proportion of stories by female reporters on radio, at 26%.
The Pacific region leads as the region with the highest proportion of stories on radio
reported by women, at 42%. The region however is not much ahead of Europe where
40% of radio stories are reported by women, Africa
(38%) and Latin America (38%)”32. A more specific
analysis focused on percentage of female reporters
from 2000 to 2010 shows that:
•
Africa, Asia and the Caribbean were the most
virtuous region, with a constant improvement of
women reporters from 2000 to 2010;
•
Europe, Middle Est and North America were the
most stagnant regions;
•
Latin America had an impressive performance
from 2000 to 2005, passing from 27% to 44%,
but it recorded a loss of female reporters in
2010 (41%);
•
Pacific lost 5 points percentage from 2005 to
Figure : stories by female reporters, by region
(Source: 2010 Who makes the news?)
2010 and register the worst performance.
32
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
“Overall, there was no repeat of the narrowing of the sex gap registered between 2000
and 2005; the world percentage of stories reported by
women (in 2010) remains at 37%, a finding exactly
similar to the one uncovered”33 in 2005.
Focusing on the topic of stories reported by women, it
is possible to notice that the percentage of female
reporting is increased for all of them34 excepting the
“Science and Health” one.
Finally, data show that stories reported by women
contain more female news subjects than these reported
by men. This trend has persisted over the past ten
years:
•
In 2000 women were the subjects of 24% of
news reported by female, in contrast to only 18% of
Figure : stories by female reporters, by
scope (Source: 2010 Who makes the
news?)
news reported by males;
•
In 2005 this ratio was 25% for female reporters
and 20% for male ones;
•
In 2010 the ratio was 28% for female reporters and 22% for male ones.
These data reflect a really slow rate of progress during these ten years towards a more
gender-based journalism.
d) Internet news
Overview
Internet news is a 2010 novelty in GMMP, and it has been introduced thanks to the
increasing importance of this medium at worldwide level. Internet is more and more
displacing traditional Medias in technological advanced nations, and it is become
significant for the Global Media Monitoring Project too. The research takes in
consideration different aspects that influence the access at the information and
communication technologies (ICT): “We begin by recognizing that great divides exist in
access to the internet and to ICTs between the global north and the global south. This
uneven diffusion and adaptation of ICT products and access to the internet characterized
as the “digital divide” operates both between and within countries and is manifested
along geographic, gender, racial and class lines. Whilst a lot has been written about ICTs
33
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34
Social and Legal, Economy, Celebrity, Arts and Media, Sports, Crime and Violence, Politics and Government,
Girl-Child.
23
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
China
5
deepening existing inequalities between industrialized and
Japan
5
developing countries, the “digital divide” is also present in
Malaysia
4
technologically advanced countries, where internet-use still
Taiwan
5
does not figure prominently in the lives of many citizens. In
Jamaica
3
many regions of the world, particularly in Africa, South-East
Austria
3
Asia and Latin America, internet use is still not widespread;
Denmark
6
news media audiences rely on the traditional print and
Estonia
5
broadcast
Germany
4
surrounding the gender-gap in patterns of access to, and use
Netherlands
1
of ICTs”35.
Norway
3
Despite the original expectations, for which Internet was
Sweden
7
supposed to be a delocalized and different medium, the
Iceland
5
online-journalism has revealed itself as a “modern instrument
Austria
8
of traditional journalism”: even in the era of social networks
New Zeeland
6
and of user-generated contents, “traditional media houses and
Canada
6
news
International
8
information.
media
Figure : participating countries and
number of news websites monitored
(Source: 2010 Who makes the news?)
mediums for news. Further, there is debate
agencies
dominate
This
the
suggests
provision
that
of
internet
news
and
content
and
consumption, despite its potential to transcend national
contexts, remains surprisingly localized”36.
The GMMP has analyzed 16 countries (see figure 12) for this
pilot research. Only national and local major websites were selected for the monitoring,
and many of them were linked with major media houses of their countries.
Topics
Female
Male
Results
The final results are not very different from
the ones of traditional media. Crime/violence,
politics and economy were the most diffuse
topics, and only 23% of news subjects were
female, in contrast with the 77% of male
news subjects (see figure 13). In addition, the
GMMP reported that women are portrayed as
victim in 16% of cases, when only the 3% of
men are: female news subjects are more than
3 times as likely as men to be portrayed as
Celebrity, Arts,
Media, Sports
Politics/Govern
ment
Science/Health
23%
77%
17%
83%
33%
67%
Crime/Violence
22%
78%
The Girl-child
70%
30%
Social/Legal
32%
68%
Economy
24%
76%
Global
Average
23%
77%
Figure : main topics in Internet news by sex of subjects
(Source: 2010 Who makes the news?)
35
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36
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
victims in Internet news.
Reporters in online news
Also in online reported news it is possible to find a confirmation of the traditional media
Topics
Female
Male
gender
inequality:
only 36% of news
is
reported by women, in contrast with those
Celebrity, Arts,
Media, Sports
Politics/Govern
ment
Science/Health
25%
75%
42%
58%
45%
55%
• 42% of political stories on the internet
Crime/Violence
31%
69%
are by women, compared to 33% of the same
The Girl-child
0%
0%
in traditional print and broadcast media;
Social/Legal
47%
53%
Economy
36%
64%
Global
Average
36%
64%
reported by men (64%) (see figure 14).
These data reconfirm the inequality existing in
the world of media, with just few exceptions:
• 47% of online social/legal news is
reported by women, compared to 43% of the
same in traditional media.
Figure : internet news stories reported, by sex of reporter
(Source: 2010 Who makes the news?)
In all the other fields, women reporters are quite rare. According to the GMMP, these
data points to two conclusions:
•
“First, the dominance of male reporters in traditional mainstream news media is
replicated in online news and is even more prominent in economic, crime/violence
and celebrity news;
•
Second, female reporters on politics/government are more likely to get stories
published on the Internet than in traditional news media, if the striking positive
difference in contrast to television, radio and print news is a reliable indicator.
This is good news for female reporters given the historical trends of gross reporter
sex imbalance in political stories in traditional media – a topic that is of prime
importance on the news media agenda”37.
37
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
4) Global report on the status of women in News Media
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf
4.1 Overview: About the IMWF
Another important research focused on women in/and mass media is the Global report on
the status of women in News Media.
This project was managed in 2011 by
the
International
Women’s
Media
Foundation (IWMF). Founded in 1990,
Figure : International Women's Media Foundation logo
the
IWMF
is
a
global
network
dedicated to reinforce the role of
women in worldwide media which “believes that there can be no full freedom of the press
until women have an equal voice in the news-gathering and news dissemination
processes.”38 The researches related to the Global report on the status of women “took
place over a two-year period, between 2008 and 2010, including planning, development
of the research design, hiring and training of staff, development of the research
instrument, collection of data, processing of data, and writing of the report”39. The Global
Report assesses five things:
1. The extent to which women have entered the journalism workforce
2. The occupational roles women fill within news companies
3. The rate at which women are paid
4. The terms by which women are employed
5. The extent to which news companies have adopted pro-equality policies for their
newsrooms.
4.2 Research methodology
59 nations representing all the world regions have participated at the IWMF’s research.
This survey has taken in consideration just national and traditional (television,
newspapers, radio) media. The data has been collected using a questionnaire and finally
522 companies were interviewed for the study. This analysis compares the major findings
by occupational level, salary, terms of employment and gender-related company policies
across 7 regions. Unfortunately, this is the first IWMF’s research related to gender and
mass media, so there are not past data to make a comparison.
Unlike the Global Media Monitoring Project (see above), the Global report on the status of
women in News Media is more focused on the effective position of women inside
newsrooms and media organizations, and it investigate over occupational level, salary,
and gender friendly internal politics.
38
39
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 7
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 15
26
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
4.3 General results
Figure : kinds of news companies surveyed across 7 regions. (N) Number of companies participating in study (Source:
Global report on the status of women in News Media)
As it possible to see in the table above, the newspapers represent almost half of the
samples of this research (48% of the total). Radio and television stations are present
nearly in the same proportion (respectively 24% and 28%).
The IWMF’s Global Report is focused on different issues:
1) “what extent women have entered the journalism workforce;
2) women’s status in the companies where they work;
3) the rate at which women are paid;
4) the terms by which women are employed;
5) the extent to which news companies have adopted pro-equality policies.
The first 4 questions require a comparison of women’s status and pay to men’s across
regions. The last requires comparison of percentages of policy adoption across regions”40.
a) Position held by women
The IWMF’s research shows that approximately 170,000 people work in the journalistic
field: 59,472 are women and 109,763 are men. These data aggregated demonstrate that
men represent almost two-thirds (64.9%) of total journalistic workforce across the
regions, whereas women represent only one-third (35.1%) of it. As it is possible to see in
figure 17, men are numerically predominant in each work position:
•
In governance, men are nearly three-fourth worker’s totality: 74.1% (compared
with 25.9% of women) in governmental positions. Individuals employed in
governmental positions of news company hierarchies are responsible for company
financial decisions and stand over company operations.
40
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 22
27
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
In
top-level
management men hold
72.7%
of
compared
offices
with
only
27.3% of women. Top
management
level
includes chief executive
officers, publishers and
directors general.
•
In
senior
management, men hold
61.3%
of
positions
(nearly two-thirds) and
Figure : Occupational status across 7 regions (Source: Global report on the status of
women in News Media)
women 38.7% (almost
one-third).
Senior
management includes directors of news, presidents of news, bureau chiefs,
managing editors, and similar titles. The average percentage is the outcome of
the combinations between regional results. In this case, the worst result is the
Asia and Ocean one (13% of women), and the best is the South African one
(79.5%).
•
In middle management, men occupy 71.3% of offices, and women only 28.7%.
This field includes senior editors, design directors, chiefs of correspondents and
senior personnel in finance. “The very large difference among regions – e.g.
Nordic and Eastern Europe where men and women are nearly equal in
percentages in middle management, a stark contrast to Asia and Oceana where
women are very low (13%) – contributes to the non-significant result across
regions”41.
•
The senior professional level is the one in which it is possible to find a certain
grade of gender equality, given that men who hold this position are 59% and
women are 41%. This level includes senior writers, producers and anchors.
•
In junior level professional, male return to be strongly dominant being 63.9%
compared with 36.1% of women. Junior professionals include producers, writers,
sub-editors, production assistants and correspondents. “This is another instance
of important differences among the regions becoming buried beneath the
statistical outcomes.
In the junior professional level, these differences are
denoted by the near-parity of men and women at this rank in several regions,
e.g., Americas and Western Europe, as compared to other regions, where there
41
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28
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
was great gender disparity.
Such disparity was seen in the region of Asia and
Oceana, for example, where the ratio of men to women at the junior professional
level was found to be nearly 3:1”42.
•
In production and design men fill about two-thirds of the positions (65.6%),
whereas women only a third (34.4%). This category includes photographers,
illustrators, graphics designers, wardrobe designers and others creative roles in
news production.
•
In technical professional men hold almost three fourth of the jobs (73.2%), with
women only a third (26.8%). This job category includes sound, lighting and
camera personnel – jobs associated with the production of broadcast news.
•
In sales, finance and administration men fill nearly 64.4% of the positions, with
women only 35.6%. Many supporting roles that are not directly related to news
reporting are included in this category, e.g. human resources, accounting, public
relations and marketing.
•
“The “other” category contains a range of job roles in news reporting and
production that do not fit well into other occupational definitions.
These may
include freelance writers and consultants. Men comprise the majority (67.1%) of
those in this category, compared to 32.9% women.
However, the differences
along gender lines differ region by region. Without a clear pattern, there was no
statistical significance found in this job category”43.
b) Under-representation, glass ceiling and relative parity
Figure : Dominant occupational patterns by gender across 7 regions (Source: Global report on the status of women in
News Media)
The under-representation profile is the most frequent one across all the regions. Totally,
its percentage is 44% and it is extremely frequent in Sub-Saharan Africa. All the regions,
42
43
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http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 26
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
excepting
Western
and
Eastern
Europe,
contain
nations
in
which
the
under-
representation of women is the most frequent pattern in journalism employing.
The term “glass ceiling” is used to refer “to an invisible but nonetheless real barrier that
women encounter in the workplace”44, and in essence it consist in several obstacles that
compromise qualified women to reach a high-level career, such as institutionalized
prejudices. Such prejudices are often implicit in the workplace, and they often explicate
themselves in processes of hiring and promotion. The global percentage for grass ceiling
reported by IWMF research is 34%: the figure 17 shows how this phenomenon is present
almost in all regions, with the only exception of Nordic Europa.
Relative parity between man and women on the journalistic workplace represents the
lowest frequency, only 22%. The research affirms that in some nations “there was found
to be a pattern of relative parity between men and women in terms of occupational
status, particularly at the news reporting levels (e.g., junior and senior professional) and
higher (e.g., middle and top management, governance). This pattern was noted in 13 of
59 nations (22%).
All regions except Western Europe contained one or more nations
with a pattern of relative parity in the news companies surveyed”45.
c) Policies on gender equality
Internal policies for gender equality have been adopted in all regions at company-wide.
The results go from 16% in Eastern Europe to 69% in both Western Europe and SubSaharan Africa. The results depend to the internal circumstances within different regions:
e.g. in Eastern Europe the low percentage of policies on gender equality is explicable
through the communist traditions, for which women had access at education and were
encouraged to work outside their home. The IWMF’s research found out that companies
of European countries bounded to European Union, and the Nordic ones, have a good
number of policies focused on gender equality but there are still some problems of parity:
“The study found more than half (57%) of the 32 companies surveyed in Nordic Europe
and more than two-thirds (69%) of 47 companies surveyed in Western Europe had
established a gender equality policy at the time of the study. In neither case does the
level of women’s participation in the journalism workforce seem to correspond to the
presence of an internal gender-equity policy: Women are near parity with men in the
Nordic European region (where 57% of companies have such a policy). While women are
also near parity with men in terms of overall numbers in Western Europe, they
experience a glass ceiling that limits their participation above the senior professional
level”46.
44
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 27
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 28
46
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 35
45
30
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
In North African regions and in Middle East only nearly one-fourth (27%) of the 38
companies evaluated have adopted internal laws referred to gender equality. It is
important to highlight the absence of such laws at the national level. The low presence of
women in newsrooms it is not surprising.
In the Americas, only one-third (38%) of the 119 companies evaluated have adopted
policies on gender equality. However, there is a significant difference between women’s
representation in newsrooms between North and South America: in the first one, national
policies on equal opportunities have been in existence for more than two decades and
this has been reflected on both women presence in newsroom and throughout the
professional hierarchy; in the second one, most of the counties do not have national and
internal policies on gender equality on the workplace, and this is reflected on the low
female presence in newsrooms.
The relation between the existence of national laws on equal opportunities, company
internal rules and female representation in newsrooms it is not always respected. This is
the case of Asia and Oceana where, in some countries, the presence of national
legislation does not assure pair opportunities. In New Zeeland and Australia, however,
the correspondence is respected.
Finally, in Sub-Saharan African countries, more than two-thirds (69%) of the 117
companies surveyed have policies on gender equality.
d) Policies on sexual harassment
More than half of newsrooms surveyed have policies on sexual harassment. The lowest
level is registered in Eastern Europe (9%), while Sub-Saharan Africa, Oceana and Asia
are the most virtuous region (67%).
e) Policies related to maternity, paternity and child care
IWMF’s research has registered the presence of policies on maternity leave in each region
took in consideration. However, policies related to paternity are not very diffused yet,
except in Nordic Europe where 100% of companies have adopted this kind of policy.
Regarding the parental leave and the child welfare, “The most comprehensive laws (…)
appear to be in the Nordic European region, where parental leave is generous for women
and men, and where state-sponsored child care (in some cases until a child enters
school) is available to all working parents. Such laws and services are important to
understand in this particular region where only 12% of the 32 companies surveyed have
child-care provisions for employees. Nordic region researchers emphasized that the
availability of such free community services made it unlikely that most companies would
offer similar ones”47. Also Asia and Oceana and Sub-Saharan Africa have similar low
47
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 38
31
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
percentages regarding company policies (respectively 17% and 19%), but the absence of
national policies is registered as well.
Rules that allow women to reclaim the same job after the maternity leave are provided in
all the regions, but not in the same proportion: all companies surveyed in Nordic Europe,
Middle East and North Africa have this kind of policy and almost all companies (96%) has
such a policy in Western Europe. In contrast, only 24% of companies in Sub-Saharan
Africa, 69% of those in Eastern Europe, 68% in Americas and 55% in Asia and Oceana
give women the same job after the maternity leave.
f) Salaries
Despite the difficulties encountered to collect this kind of data, the IWMF dedicates a
chapter of its survey to salary issue.
According to the data, in Eastern Europe there is a good equality between genders
related to salary, both at low and high work levels. “Researchers for this region noted
that while inequality in women’s status manifests itself in other ways in these nations
today, equal access to jobs and relatively similar salary structures by gender remain
common”48.
Also in Nordic Europe men generally earn more money than women at each occupational
level, with the only exception of the production and design and the junior professional
levels. However, “there was variation by nation, with women earning higher salaries than
men in some cases, e.g., in Denmark in middle and senior management, and also pay
equity in others, e.g., at a number of occupational levels in Finland”49.
In the Americas women are nearly at parity with men in the ranks of senior and junior
professionals (respectively 44% and 46%)
and also in the middle and junior
management (46% and 40%). But salaries do not follow suits in most of the cases. The
research put out that women earn more than men in high and low ranges of senior
management, and in production and design (at both high and low ranges). On the other
hand, men earn more than women in the high range of junior management level, and in
the senior professional level too. The senior professional level shows a certain degree of
gender balance (59% of men and 41% of women).
Finally, in Asia and Oceana, women generally earn less than men, especially at higher
company ranks (e.g. governance). Data show how it exist a considerable variation
among different countries in this region:
•
In Japan, the ration of men to women is 7:1, and women represent just 17% of
the workforce in companies surveyed. Unfortunately, Japan has not provided
sufficient salary data to make a more exhaustive consideration.
48
49
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 30
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 32
32
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
In India, women have historically pushed for a place in newsrooms. Unfortunately,
the ratio of men to women is still 4:1 and women earn generally less than men,
especially at governance and top and senior management. The research has
surveyed that both sex have a similar salary in junior professional and middle
management levels.
•
In Bangladesh, the ratio of men to women in news workforce is 5:1. Men
frequently receive higher salary than women, especially at management level, but
they earn similar at both average high and average low ranges in most of the
others occupational levels.
33
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
Figure : composite percentages for gender related policies across seven regions
(Source: Global report on the status of women in News Media)
Part 2: European level
1) Global Media Monitoring Project
http://whomakesthenews.org/images/stories/restricted/regional/Europe.pdf
The Global Media Monitoring Project’s methodology classifies the news stories using
seven major topic areas (“politics and government”, “economy”, “science and health”,
“social and legal”, “crime and violence”, “celebrity, arts, media and sports”, “the girl
child”). The attention is also focused on the three major traditional media: television,
radio and print.
1.1 News content
The results highlights the tendency of television to be particularly focused on crime and
violence stories (22%), while news on politics and government dominated radio and print
news (26% and 39%, respectively). News related to crime and violence and to politics
34
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
and government were also the most frequent during the research day (1230 and 1770,
respectively).
Topics
Female news
subjects
Male news
subjects
Celebrity, Arts, Media,
Sports
Politics/Government
Science/Health
29%
71%
21%
36%
79%
64%
Crime/Violence
28%
72%
Social/Legal
31%
69%
Economy
22%
78%
26%
74%
Women presence in European
news is a little better than the
global tendency: the
European one is 26%, the
Regional Average
Figure : overall presence of women and men in European news as news subjects
(Source: Who makes the news? – Europe)
World one is 24%. As it is
possible to observe in
figure
20,
males
the
dominate
each news field. Politics and
government is the area in
which women presence is less
registered
(21%),
while
science and health is the
one in which women are more present (36%). In conclusion, women are grossly underrepresented in all major news topics.
1.2 News subject
The survey shows that more than 70% of news subject in television, print and radio were
men. The major disparity was registered in radio newscasts, in which 76% of news
subjects were men and only 24% were women. In television, men subjects were 71%
and women were 29%; in print the percentages, respectively, were 75% and 25%.
Sex of news subjects in print, radio and TV
news
Female
75%
25%
Male
76%
29%
24%
Print
71%
Radio
Television
Figure : sex of news subjects in print, radio and TV news (Source: Who makes the news? - Europe)
35
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
In regard to women function in news stories, the results are not very far from the global
ones. The typical role of women is the person who gives popular opinions, which is
assumed to reflect the one of “ordinary citizens” (54%). The other roles, in order of
women’s presence, are:
•
“Personal experience: the person provides opinion or comment, based on
individual personal experience; the opinion is not necessarily meant to reflect the
views of a wider group (39%)
•
Eye witness: the person gives testimony or comment, based on direct observation
(e.g. being present at an event) (32%)
•
Subject: the story is about this person, or about something the person has done,
said etc. (25%)
•
Expert or commentator: the person provides additional information, opinion or
comment, based on specialist knowledge or expertise (22%)
•
Spokesperson: the person represents, or speaks on behalf of another person, a
group or an organization (21%)”50
Women’s employment reported in the news is an important element as well. The most
frequent jobs associated with women were:
•
Student, pupil, schoolchild (54%)
•
Office or service worker, non-management worker in office, store, restaurant,
catering … (53%)
•
Sex worker, prostitute … (51%)
•
Retired person, pensioner (50%)
On the other hand, the less frequent occupations associated with women were:
•
Religious figure, priest, monk, rabbi, mullah, nun … (6%)
•
Agriculture, mining, fishing, forestry worker … (5%)
•
Police, military, para-military group, militia, prison officer, security officer, fire
officer … (8%)
•
Science or technology professional, engineer, technician, computer specialist …
(11%)
Finally, the report shows how women are usually identified with their family status three
times more than men. Family status is mentioned for 18% women compared to 8% of
men in European news.
50
http://whomakesthenews.org/images/stories/restricted/regional/Europe.pdf page 4
36
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
1.3 Delivering the news
Reporters and presenters gender can be influent on the choice of news subjects. The
survey affirms that 41% of European news was reported by woman: 31% in print, 50%
in radio newscasts, and 44% in television. Only radio news were equally reported and
presented by men and women.
If we concentrate just on reporters, it is possible to see that this job is generally more
assigned to males than to females. In fact, 35% on European news were reported by
women, and 65% by men. Across all these mediums, women reporters were most
present in television (42%), whereas in radio and especially in print their presence was
less spread (40% and 31%, respectively).
Age of European reporters
Female
Male
62%
61%
62%
61%
38%
39%
38%
39%
19 - 34
35 - 49
50 - 64
65 +
Figure : age of European reporters, by sex (Source: Who makes the news? - Europe)
The age of presenters is an important element as well. As it is possible to see in the
tables below, female presenters in the 35 to 49 years old age-group and in the 50 to 65
one exceeded the male ones, whereas male reporters exceeded the number of female
ones in every age range.
Age of European presenters
Female
Male
57%
48%
46%
55%
43%
52%
54%
45%
19 - 34
35 - 49
50 - 64
65 +
Figure : age of European presenters, by sex (Source: Who makes the news? - Europe)
37
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
Women reported 49% of news related with science and health, but they were extremely
underrepresented in the government and politics field, with only 29% of serviced
assigned to them.
Topics
Female %
Female N
Celebrity, Arts, Media,
Sports
Politics/Government
Science/Health
40%
197
26%
49%
352
233
Crime/Violence
33%
272
Social/Legal
42%
200
Economy
40%
273
Figure : female reporters on major topics, in Europe (Source: Who makes the news? - Europe)
Finally, female news subjects and gender of the reporters are correlated as well. The
research shows that the quantity of female news subjects is partially correlated to the
journalists’ gender: female journalists tend to report news in which women are the main
subject more than men journalists do (13% and 9%, respectively).
2) Global report on the status of women in News Media
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf
The Global Report on the status of women in News Media divides Europe in three
different parts: Western Europe, Nordic Europe and Eastern Europe. Not all the European
States are took in consideration. For Nordic Europe there are Denmark, Finland, Norway,
Sweden; for Western Europe France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom (including
England, N. Ireland, Scotland, Wales); and for Easter Europe Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary,
Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine. The analysis makes an overview of these
different parts of Europe and then goes into the details of each State. I will consider only
the regional trends.
2.1 Nordic Europe Overview
Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland are lot alike not
only because they are Nordic counties, but also because
they are economically, socially and politically similar.
Moreover, they all have high level of newspaper readership
and a high level of literacy. These countries have a welldeveloped media system and a very good degree of press
38
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
freedom, and women take advantage from this situation. Women “enjoy strong measures
of equality in other ways, with the notable exception of pay equity, where women in all of
the Nordic nations still lag behind men. Gender legislation in the region’s nations has
sought to address this by requiring larger companies to monitor salaries for men and
women on a regular basis to determine whether salary differences are directly or
indirectly associated with gender. Current reports show a high degree of equality in pay
between men and women, with only a small percentage of difference due to gender
disparity. With specific respect to journalism, pay differences between men and women
may be due to age differences and job longevity rather than discrimination. Most women
in journalism fields in the region are relatively young”51.
32 news companies from Nord Europe took part at the survey: 22 newspapers, 6 TV
stations and 4 radio station.
Nations
Newspapers
Denmark
Finland
Norway
5
6
5
Sweden
Totals
TV stations
Radio stations
N
1
2
1
1
1
1
7
9
7
6
2
1
9
22
6
4
32
Figure : media participating in study, by nation, in the Nordic Europe region. N= number of companies responding to
questions (Source: Global report on the status of women in News Media – Nordic Europe)
a) Position held by women
The research shows that women:
•
Are nearly parity with men in two work position, Senior Professional level (43.3%)
and Middle Management (42.6%)
•
Surpass men in Sales, Finance & Administration (64.7%)
•
Are underrepresented compared by men in Technical Professional (24.4%)
•
In
all
the
other
positions
(Governance,
Top-level
Management,
Senior
Management, Junior-level Professional, Production and Design, Other) women are
represented from 35 to 40 percent.
News companies surveyed by IWMF employed 4,090 men and 3,174 women, so this
could be one of the reasons of female partial underrepresentation. In addition, there
were some variations within the singular nations: Denmark and Norway, for example,
have a less presence of women in the senior professional level (respectively 34% and
35%), than Finland and Sweden (respectively 51% and 49%).
51
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 309
39
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
b) Salary
Figure : annual salary by occupational status and gender in news companies in Nordic Europe region. N= number of
companies responding to question (Source: Global report on the status of women in News Media – Nordic Europe)
The IMWF’s study revealed how Nordic men are generally better paid than women at
each occupational level, with the only exception of the junior professional and the
production and design ones, where salaries are a bit higher or similar. “One explanation
for the difference in salaries is that women in the journalism profession in the region are
usually younger than the men, and senior professionals usually receive higher salaries
due to more experience”52.
c) Gender-related company policies
Nordic countries have adopted several laws in favor to gender equality on the workplace.
Concerning gender-related company policies, data show that on 32 companies:
•
57% has a policy on gender equality;
•
49% has a policy on sexual harassment;
•
100% has a policy on maternity leave;
•
100% has a policy on paternity leave;
•
100% does women get same job back after maternity leave;
•
12% offers child-care assistance. It is important to highlight the existence of a
strong system of public funded child-care facilities;
•
52
94% offers educational training-women.
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 312
40
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
2.2 Western Europe
a)
Overview
Western Europe includes Germany, France, Spain and the
United Kingdom (including England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland). All of these nations are high industrialized,
but there are still considerable variations among them in terms
of culture, history, economic development, politics, and media
systems. These countries are part of the European Union,
which in 2006 adopted the Roadmap for Equality 2006-2010 (see below). This Roadmap
“sets goals that include economic equality, gender parity in political bodies, the
elimination of gender stereotypes in media, and an end to gender-based violence and
trafficking”53.
Companies surveyed by IWMF’s research are 47: 20 newspapers, 12 TV stations and 15
radio stations.
Nations
Newspapers
France
Germany
Spain
5
5
4
United Kingdom
Totals
TV stations
Radio stations
N
0
5
7
3
2
3
8
12
11
7
7
2
16
20
12
15
47
Figure : media participating in study, by nation, in the Western Europe region. N= number of companies responding to
questions (Source: Global report on the status of women in News Media – Western Europe)
b) Occupational status of women
In Western Europe’s companies, female journalists are 43% of the workforce, fairly close
to parity with male ones. The IWMF research affirms that women:
•
•
Are more represented than men in Sales, Finance & Administration field (56.6%);
Are well represented in Junior Professional (48.5%) and Senior Professional levels
(41.8%);
•
Are underrepresented in all the other fields, particularly in the highest ones:
Governance (29.8%), Top-level Management (26%), and Senior Management
(22.7%).
53
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 337
41
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
c) Salary
Figure : annual salary by occupational status and gender in news companies in Western Europe region. N= number of
companies responding to question (Source: Global report on the status of women in News Media – Western Europe)
This survey shows how women are generally less paid than men. Generally, they exceed
men’s salary only in the Sales, Finance & Administration field. In all the other sectors
women earn less than men, especially in the Governance and Top-level management
ones, where women are also critically underrepresented.
d) Gender-related company policies
In addition to national legislations, Western Europe countries have also adopted several
EU laws related to gender equality in the workplace. However, these laws did not have a
uniform effect in all the European States. The survey revealed that, on 47 companies:
•
69% has a specific policy on gender equality. UK is the only State with 100%;
•
47% has a policy on sexual harassment. This data varied widely, from 100% in
UK to only 8% in Germany;
•
98% has a policy on maternity leave;
•
96% has a policy on paternity leave;
•
96% does women get same job back;
•
53% offers child care assistance;
•
78% offers educational training.
42
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
2.3 Eastern Europe
a)
Overview
Bulgaria,
Hungary,
Poland,
Russia,
Estonia,
Lithuania,
Romania and Ukraine are the States composing Eastern
Europe in IWMF’s survey. Despite the difference existing
between these States, particularly related to ethic and culture,
they share a political history resulting from the participation at
the the Soviet Union (Estonia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine)
and at the Easter European communist bloc (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania).
Currently every State, except Ukraine and Russia, are members of the European Union.
“Under communism, nations espoused social and political equality for all regardless of
gender and ethnicity. Gender inequalities became hidden rather than absent, as women
were being granted access to education and encouraged to work outside the household.
Women’s status has surfaced today as something needing to be addressed, particularly
within nations that have strived to be integrated into the European Union. The EU
requires its member states to agree to enact gender equality measures in employment
and elsewhere”54.
Eastern Europe companies surveyed by IWMF’s research were 85: 31 newspapers, 27 TV
stations and 27 radio stations.
Nations
Newspapers
Bulgaria
Estonia
Hungary
4
4
1
Lithuania
TV stations
Radio stations
N
4
3
3
2
3
4
10
10
8
4
3
3
10
Poland
2
4
3
9
Romania
2
5
3
10
Russia
8
2
4
14
Ukraine
5
5
4
14
Totals
31
27
27
85
Figure : media participating in study, by nation, in the Eastern Europe region. N= number of companies responding to
questions (Source: Global report on the status of women in News Media – Eastern Europe)
54
http://iwmf.org/pdfs/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf page 263
43
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
b) Occupational status of women
Totally, news companies surveyed employed 11,602 people, including 5,592 women and
6,057 men. This research shows that women:
•
Were overrepresented in regard to men in Sales, Finance & Administration field
(69.4%), Junior-level Professional (59.9%) and Senior-level Professional (56.4%);
•
Were well represented in Middle Management (49.8%), Top-level Management
(43.4%) and Senior Management (40.9%);
•
Were strongly underrepresented in the technical and creative job levels, such as
Technical Professional (20.5%), Production and Design (33.9%);
•
Were underrepresented in the Governance field (32.9%)
c) Salary
Figure : annual salary by occupational status and gender in news companies in Eastern Europe region. N= number of
companies responding to question (Source: Global report on the status of women in News Media – Eastern Europe)
Eastern European salaries were relatively similar for both genders, and women earned
just a little fewer than men in all levels. There is only a striking exception: the salary
received at Governance. In this field, men earn from $153,279.38 to $199,189.12, but
women earn only from $12,990.83 to $14,332.67.
d) Gender-related company policies
IWMF’s research on Eastern Europe highlights that, on 85 companies:
•
16% has a policy on gender equality;
•
9% has a policy on sexual harassment;
•
88% has a policy on maternity leave;
•
68% has a policy on paternity leave;
44
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
69% do women get the same job back;
•
32% offers child-care assistance;
•
71% offers educational training.
Part 3: Belgium
1) Global Media Monitoring Project
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/images/stories/restricted/national/belgique-fr.pdf
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/images/stories/restricted/national/BelgiumFlanders.pdf
Following the global GMMP’s scheme, the 2010 research focused on French-speaking
Belgium is divided into three main macro areas: women as news protagonists, women as
reporters and/or presenters, and news specifically focused on women and/or gender
issues.
The media took in consideration for this survey have been:
Francophone part of Belgium:
•
Television: 1 JT de la RTBF La Une, 1 JT de RTL-TVi, 1 JT de Télésambre;
•
Newspapers: Le Soir, La Dernière Heure, Vers l’Avenir Namur;
•
Radio : 1 JP RTBF La Première, 1 JP BEL RTL, 1 JP FUN Radio.
Flemish part of Belgium:
•
Television: 1 JT VRT One, 1 JT VTM, 1 JT AVS;
•
Newspapers: Morgen, Standaard, Laatste Nieuws;
•
Radio: 1 JP VRT Radio 1, 1 JP radio privée (Q-Music).
1.1 News subjects
As it is possible to observe in the table below, women in Belgian 2010 media news were
25% of total news subjects, and in the specific only newspapers registered a percentage
of women news subjects higher than the global one.
In the French-speaking part, women news subjects were more frequent than in the
national rank (28%). The most women-oriented medium is Television (34%), followed by
Newspapers (25%) and Radio (22%). Considering that women are 51% of Belgian
population, they are largely underrepresented as news subjects. However, the average
presence of women in French-speaking Belgian media was higher than both total Belgian
results and global world’s ones.
45
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
In Flanders, on the other hand, results were not encouraging at all. The total percentage
of women news subjects was lower than both world and Belgian ones, and only the radio
stations levels were higher compared to them.
Media
2010 GMMP
world
2010 GMMP Belgium
Total
FR
NL
Newspapers
Radio stations
TV stations
24%
22%
24%
23%
23%
29%
25%
22%
34%
23%
24%
24%
Total
24%
25%
28%
23%
Figure : percentage of females covered by media in the news by area, by medium (Source:
Who makes the news? - Belgium)
The survey also reports that women have the possibility to be identified by their family
status four times more than men: in fact, 19% of women news-subjects was described
as brides, mothers or daughters. This practical was applied only to 8% of men news
subjects.
Moreover, as person heard or interviewed in the news, women in French-speaking
Belgium were consulted only 28% of times, respect 72% of men, and they were usually
identified as eyewitnesses (70%) or as representatives of general opinion (57%).
Differently, men were frequently painted in the role of spokespersons (75%) or experts
(74%), when they were not just the main subjects of news (75% of cases).
In
Flemish
Belgium things were not
better. Men
mostly had
the function
of
spokespersons (82%), subjects of the story (78%) and experts (73%). Public opinion, on
the other hand, was a woman affair (78%).
General Belgian results trace out the French-speaking and Flemish ones. Specifically, the
role of women and men in Belgian news was:
•
Subject: the story is about this person, or about something the person has done,
said etc. Female: 25%; Male: 75%.
•
Spokesperson: the person represents, or speaks on behalf of another person, a
group or an organization. Female: 25%; Male: 75%.
•
Expert or commentator: the person provides additional information, opinion or
comment, based on specialist knowledge or expertise. Female: 24%; Male: 76%.
•
Personal experience: the person provides opinion or comment, based on
individual personal experience; the opinion is not necessarily meant to reflect the
views of a wider group. Female: 31%; Male: 69%.
46
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
Eye witness: the person gives testimony or comment, based on direct observation
(e.g. being present at an event). Female: 70%; Male: 30%.
•
Popular opinion: the person’s opinion is assumed to reflect that of the ‘ordinary
citizen’; it is implied that the person’s point of view is shared by a wider group of
people. Female: 57%; Male: 43%.
1.2 News content
A deeper look into the data shows that in French-speaking Belgium women were subject
of news particularly in Social and Legal, Crime and Violence and Science and Health
topics.
In
all
the
so-called
“hard
news”
(politics
and
economy)
women
were
underrepresented both at national and world level.
In Flemish region, women were central in news related to the Girl-child (36%), Crime
and violence (34%) and Celebrity, Arts and Media and Sports (31%) topics. Despite the
differences between these two Belgian areas, their total results were identical (23%),
and they did not move away from the total Belgian results (24%).
Media topics
2010 GMMP
world
2010 GMMP Belgium
Total
FR
NL
The Girl-child
Celebrity, Arts
and Media, Sports
Crime and violence
Social and Legal
Science and Health
Economy
Politics and
Government
Other topics
69%
26%
36%
23%
0%
15%
36%
31%
24%
30%
32%
20%
19%
35%
32%
26%
23%
18%
41%
42%
38%
20%
26%
34%
23%
20%
29%
12%
38%
0%
0%
0%
Total
24%
23%
23%
24%
Figure : percentage of female news subjects by topics, by area
(Source: 2010 Who makes the news? - Belgium)
1.3 Delivering the news
In French-speaking Belgian community, articles wrote and/or presented by women were
markedly less than those wrote by men: just 35% in all, 26% in Newspapers and 29%
Radio stations. Only in TV stations the situation was a bit better (43%).
47
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
In Flanders things were even worst: articles were presented and/or wrote by women in
23% of cases, and specifically 23% in Newspapers, 44% in Radio stations and 16% in TV
stations.
Finally, the percentage of women who delivers the news in Belgium was 29%, 8 point
less than the 2010 global one and at the same level of 1995 world level.
Media
GMMP world
GMMP Belgium
Total
FR
NL
Newspapers
Radio stations
TV stations
35%
27%
44%
24%
35%
29%
26%
29%
43%
23%
44%
16%
Total
37%
29%
35%
23%
Figure : stories by Belgian female presenters and reporters (Source: 2010 Who makes the
news? - Belgium)
Going deeply in news content, it is possible to see how women journalists were used to
concentrate in Science and Health and Social and Legal topics, which are generally
considered the less important ones (compared with Politics and Government, Crime and
Violence and Economy). This was true both for francophone Belgium and Flanders, so
also for the whole Belgium.
Finally, in French-speaking Belgium women journalists mediatized other women a little
less than male ones did (24% and 25%, respectively). On the contrary, in Flanders
women were mediatized by women journalists more than by the men (35% and 18%,
respectively). The average Belgian results (29%) were at the same level of the global
ones (28%), but there were a significant gap between the Walloon and the Flemish
percentages.
2)
Etude comparative des politiques des régulateurs membres du REFRAM en
matière
d’égalité
hommes-femmes
(Comparative
study
on
regulatory
REFRAM members concerning equality between genders)
http://www.csa.be/system/documents_files/1695/original/BL_20110826_rapport_egalit
%C3%A9_hommes_femmes_REFRAM_OK.pdf?1328884633
48
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
The 2011 survey made by the REFRAM (Francophone Network
of media regulators) is fundamentally focused on those Frenchspeaking countries which are part of the Francophonie55.
2.1 Authorization and control
These
regulators
have,
in
part
or
totally,
powers
of
authorization, decision, sanction and/or regulation. Specific
Figure : REFRAM logo
dispositions as regards equality between men and women have
been adopted only by Belgium, Canada, France, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast,
Republic of the Congo, Senegal and Gabon. These legislations take in consideration
different aspects of equality in Media:
•
Some of them refer at an effective representation of women into decisional organs
of the regulatory authorities. In some Francophone States, such as the Central
African Republic, Senegal, Togo, Luxembourg, and the Republic of Congo, there
are specific legislations also referred at an important role of women’s associations
in decision bodies. This does not happen in Belgium, where women’s associations
have no powers on the CSA (Great Audiovisual Council – Conseil Supérieur de
l’audiovisuel) opinion body’s composition.
•
Others explicitly take into account the respect of women’s image in media
programs. In Belgium, the RTBF (Radio Télévision Belge Francophone –
Francophone Belgian Radio Television) administration’s contract affirms that the
RTBF itself is engaged to be “active in respect of the principle of equality between
men and women and in the fight against sexist stereotypes and messages”56. In
2010, the CSA reported the lack of this plan by RTBF.
•
Others dispositions, finally, are referred to women’s image in advertisement
(Togo, Ivory Coast, Morocco).
2.2 Evaluation
Next to their control function, the regulators have also evaluation powers, consisting in
powers of consultancy, opinion and recommendation, and powers as moral authority.
The first type of powers (consultancy, opinion and recommendation) is not binding, but it
is frequently used by the regulators to alert or to call out qualified legislators. In 2006,
Belgian CSA edited an opinion titled “Equality, multiculturalism and social inclusion.
Presence and
representation
of women
in
55
radio broadcasting
services (Egalité,
Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Canada, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast,
France, Gabon, Guinea, Lebanon, Luxemburg, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Moldova, Niger, Romania, Senegal,
Switzerland, Chad, Togo.
56
http://www.csa.be/system/documents_files/1695/original/BL_20110826_rapport_egalit%C3%A9_hommes_f
emmes_REFRAM_OK.pdf?1328884633 page 14
49
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
multiculturalité et inclusion sociale. Présence et représentation des femmes dans les
services de radiodiffusion)”, that recommend a taking office in terms of a better
representation of females in audiovisual Media (see below).
The second type of powers (moral authority) is used to encourage some favorable
dynamics for a better consideration of equality between women and men in the media.
The Belgian French-speaking community has supported gender equality through a threeyears plan (started in 2010) called “Plan for diversity and equality in audiovisual media
(Plan pour la diversité et l’égalité dans les médias audiovisuels)”, which is articulated by
CSA in two projects: “Diversity and Equality Barometer (Baromètre de la Diversité et de
l’Egalité – see below)” and “Good practices Panorama as regards equality and diversity
(Panorama des bonne pratiques en matière d’égalité et de diversité – see below)”.
2.3 Co-regulation and auto-regulation
Due to legislative hesitation, the “consultative tool” seems to be the only one at
regulator’s disposal to actively promote gender equality between sexes. These powers
are codified only in Canada, France and Morocco.
3) Egalité, multiculturalité et inclusion sociale. Présence et représentation des
femmes dans les services de radiodiffusion (Equality, multiculturalism and
social
inclusion.
Presence
and
representation
of
women
in
radio
broadcasting services)
http://www.egalite.cfwb.be/index.php?eID=tx_nawsecuredl&u=0&file=fileadmin/sites/sd
ec/upload/sdec_super_editor/sdec_editor/documents/medias/Avis_du_CSA_Presence_et
_representation_des_femmes.pdf&hash=f4846d604e4e5978faeef76969d24e5b59f0c7d0
In 2006, the Audiovisual end equal opportunities Belgian Minister requested to the CSA
to drew up an opinion and recommendations concerning women’s representation and
presence in mass media, and also one regarding the treatment of information related to
violence on women. After a preamble in which are mentioned all the laws, declarations
and advices that have been taken at international, European and national level, the CSA’s
advice divides itself in three parts.
3.1 Women’s presence in broadcasting services
The College recommends at the audiovisual’s actors to:
•
Promote a balanced presence of women and men in direction and responsibility
organs, and to ensure equal work and salaries conditions for both sexes;
•
Ensure the presence of both sexes in those programs aimed for exchange and
discussion;
50
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
Ensure, in information’s programs, to refer and question to experts, actors and
witnesses from both sexes;
•
Promote the employment of female journalists;
3.2 Representation of female’s image by broadcasting services
(see below)
3.3 Journalistic treatment referred to case of violence against women
The College recommends at the audiovisual’s actors to:
•
Process this topic in information newspapers, but also in magazines and special
programs allowing a transversal (cultural, judicial, sociologic, …) and educative
analysis of the issue;
•
Keep themselves informed about violence among partners. The aim is to treat this
issue adequately and respecting shelter’s principles of discretion and anonymity.
3.4 Tools and assessments
Finally, the Advice College:
•
Invites the broadcasting editors to adopt a specific inner regulation related to
sexist stereotypes and to a balanced representation of women and men;
•
Recommends the government to finance and to realize an annual or biannual
monitoring project focused on women’s presence and representation in mass
media;
•
Proposes to itself to follow its projects as regards as information about violence
against women.
4) Baromètre de la Diversité et de l’Egalité 2012 (2012 Diversity and Equality
Barometer)
http://www.csa.be/system/documents_files/1712/original/Barom%C3%A8tre%202012.p
df?1332936426
4.1 Overview
The 2012 Diversity and Equality Barometer is a
project developed by the CSA, an association charged
of the audio-visual regulation for the Walloon-Brussels
Federation. The Barometer took in consideration only
television’s channels, particularly:
Figure : 2012 Diversity and Equality logo
•
On national level: RTBF (La Une), RTBF (La
Deux), RTBF (La Trois), RTL-TVi, Plug RTL, Club RTL,
51
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
AB3, AB4, Liberty TV, Canal Z, Be 1, MTV Belgium;
•
On local level: Antenne Centre, Télé Mons-Borinage, Télésambre, Notélé, Canal C,
Canal Zoom, TV Com, MaTélé, TV Lux, Télévesdre, RTC Télé-Liège et Télé
Bruxelles.
The sample is focused on an entire week of TV programs (from august 31 to September
6 2011, for a total of 274 hours of transmissions) and advertisement has not been taken
in consideration. The survey look at different kinds of formats, distributed as showed in
the table below:
Format
Playing time
Percentage
Fiction
Information
Magazine/Documentary
6:08:03
74:30:17
71:47:40
2,24%
27,16%
26,17%
Entertainment
66:16:03
24,16%
Sport
35:28:01
12,93%
Short programs
15:49:29
5,77%
Other programs
4:20:16
1,58%
Totals
274:19:49
100,00%
Figure : Figure 35: format, playing time and percentages analyzed by the survey
(Source: 2012 Diversity and Equality Barometer)
Different criteria of diversity and equality have been applied:
•
Gender (man, woman, transgender, transsexual, transvestite);
•
Origins (Caucasian, non-Caucasian, minorities, …);
•
Age;
•
Social and occupational status;
•
Visible handicap.
This report will focus only on the gender aspect.
4.2 Female presence in television
The 2012 Barometer results on female presence in television do not distance the ones
from 2011. As showed in the table below, women were strongly underrepresented in
television in both 2012 and 2011, being appeared only in 33.50% and 31.41% of times.
52
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
Sex
2012
2011
Women
Men
Others*
33.5%
68.48%
0.02%
31.41%
68.54%
0.04%
Totals
100%
100%
Figure : female presence in television.
*Transgender, transsexual, transvestite.
Going deeply inside the different format, it is possible to notice that Sport was extremely
dominated by men, even if women have improved their position from 2011 to 2012 (from
7.31% to 16.81%). Women were not dominant in any of the formats, and only in
Entertainment they exceed the 30% of presence, even if from 2011 to 2012 they passed
from 48.10% to 42.93%. Generally, in one year men have improved their presence in
television (from 64.2% to 65.08%), while the women’s one have gotten worst (from
35.81% to 34.19%).
Format
Playing time
2012
2011
Fiction
Information
Magazine/
Documentary
Entertainment
67.31%
68.80%
57.07%
Percentage
2012
2011
-
60.27%
51.90%
32.69%
31.20%
38.74%
30.42%
39.73%
57.07%
51.90%
42.93%
48.10%
Sport
83.19%
92.69%
16.81%
7.31%
Short programs
61.64%
56.78%
38.36%
43.22%
Other programs
61.39%
53.94%
38.61%
38.61%
65.08%
64.2%
34.19%
35.81%
Totals
-
Women’s underrepresentation is tied to the tendency to relegate them in background
roles, such as game show competitor (61.61%) and representative of popular opinion
(40.09%). Compared with 2011, women in 2012 have improved their position in roles of
experts (from 15.35% to 25.08%) and journalists (from 36.48% to 43.29%), but they
have also lost visibility in the role of spokesperson (from 20.53% to 16.72%).
Moreover, the survey shows that in the Information the presence of women is more
frequent in local news (34.70%) than in national (33.18%) and international (20.67%)
ones. The 2011 situation was not very different from the 2012 one (local: 35.31%;
national: 27.60%; international: 21.99%). However, the Information is generally adverse
53
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
to women. Looking in the specific, the survey shows how the presence of female in
Television news, Newspapers and Debates is always less frequent than the male’s one,
even if there have been some improvements from 2011 to 2012.
Women and men's
presence in different types
of information - 2012
Female
Women and men's
presence in different types
of information - 2011
Male
Female
Male
71%
63,00%
73,20%
71%
63,00%
73,20%
29%
38,00%
26,80%
29%
38,00%
26,80%
News magazine
TV news
Debates
News magazine
TV news
Debates
Figure : women and men's presence in different types of
information - 2012
Figure : women and men's presence in different types of
information - 2011
4.3 Journalists in the information
The chapter related to journalists in the information is totally focused on female presence
in this field. A first result of the survey is a nearly parity between men and women in the
journalistic world: 57.73% of men and 42.27% of women. However, going deeply, the
research shows that in 2012 only 33.77% of principal journalists (presenters) and 44.9%
of secondary journalists (reporters, correspondents, commentators, etc.) were females.
The same gap is found in local televisions (TVL), where female journalists were 45.36%,
36.98% principal journalists and 47.18% secondary ones, and also in radio (RTBF) where
the percentage are 39.34% and 50.13%, respectively (in total: 48.61% of female
journalists). The national and international televisions (RTL group), on the other hand, go
against the tide: women represented 44.83% of principal journalists and 25.93% of
secondary journalists. Despite these data, in the totality women represented only
28.44% of television journalists.
The survey has also analyzed the age of male and female journalists. The results show a
considerable difference between men and women journalists’ age: men are more likely to
be from 35 to 64 years old and women from 19 to 49. These data can be read in two
different ways. The first is tied with the youngness imperative that affects women
journalist; the second is referred to the increasingly entrance of women in the journalists
field registered in last years.
54
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
Figure : journalists' age in the information
4.4 Presenters of the entertainment
With the term entertainment the survey refers to seven sous-groups: game shows,
music, video clips, humor, media-buying, media and other. It was that women were
64.83% of principal presenters and 42.55% of secondary ones, and both data registered
an increase respect the 2010 analysis. In relation to presenters’ age, the Barometer
affirms that women are more likely to be from 19 to 34 years old.
Figure : presenters' age in the entertainment
55
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
4.5 Subjects’ identification – Mentions
Considering only people who talks and who are seen, the survey affirms that men are
generally more mentioned than women. In fact, women were not mentioned in 44.06%
and men 34.40%. Written mention is the one in which both were more mentioned
(40.50% and 45.50%, respectively).
Figure : mentions of women and men
In 2011 the age of women had played an important role in their (not) mentioning: there
was a clear exclusion of the most aged ranges of them, in a sort of escalating process for
which the proportion of women’s mentions decreased with the augmentation of their age.
In 2012 this process seemed to be disappeared: the ranges < 12 and 13 – 18 have
reduced their presence, and the 50 – 64 and > 65 ones have improved it.
Figure : percentage of not mentioned women in 2012
56
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
Figure : type of mention realted to different age ranges for both women and men
Moreover, when mention exists, men are more likely to be identified with “name +
surname + profession” than women. Women, on the other hand, are more identified only
with their surname compared to men. This tendency is confirmed when women are vox
populi, competitors in a game show and especially when they are interviewed as experts
or spokespersons.
Figure : different types of mentions for both women and men
4.6 Subjects’ identification – Victims / authors of reprehensible acts / good
example
The survey also looks at the subjects’ identification in terms of victims, authors of
reprehensible acts and good examples. In the very majority of cases, however, people
have not generated perceptions in viewers.
57
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
As expectable, women are more likely to be portrayed as victims than men, and men are
usually identified as authors of reprehensible acts. Despite this, men are also more
identified as good examples than women do.
Perception
Men
No perception
Victims
Authors of reprehensible
acts
Good examples
Women
Total
98.82%
0.59%
0.47%
98.85%
0.84%
0.17%
98.86%
0.13%
0.04%
0.10%
0.67%
0.37%
Figure : perception of women and men
5) Panorama des bonne pratiques en matière d’égalité et de diversité (Good
practices Panorama as regards equality and diversity)
http://www.csa.be/system/documents_files/1415/original/CSA_panorama_diversite_201
0.pdf?1299596450
The Good Practices Panorama’s aim is to identify some good practices in aid of equality
and diversity in television. These good practices are related to each aspect of diversity
(gender, age, origin, handicap, professional and social category …) and to all
audiovisual’s roles (production, formation, recruitment, diffusion …). The aim is to
increase professionals of audiovisual awareness of equality and diversity in media, both
in respect to informative contents and to redactions.
Part 4: Gender stereotyping in mass media
Gender stereotyping is formed by preconceived ideas whereby males and females are
arbitrarily assigned characteristics and roles determined and limited by their sex57. It is
based on the conviction than men and women are biologically and socially evolved to be
suited different tasks: privates and familiars to women, and publics and professionals to
men. Sex stereotyping can limit the development of the natural talents and abilities of
boys and girls, women and men, as well as their educational experiences and life
opportunities. Gender stereotypes in mass media have various shades: from women’s
57
http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/equality/03themes/womenmedia/CDEG_2011_15_en_handbook.pdf page 4
58
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
images and iconographic representation, to their mention in different topics compared to
men, to a general underrepresentation of women in news58.
6) Egalité, multiculturalité et inclusion sociale. Présence et représentation
des
femmes
dans
les
services
de
radiodiffusion
(Equality,
multiculturalism and social inclusion. Presence and representation of
women in radio broadcasting services) - Representation of female’s
image by broadcasting services
http://www.egalite.cfwb.be/index.php?eID=tx_nawsecuredl&u=0&file=fileadmin/sites/sd
ec/upload/sdec_super_editor/sdec_editor/documents/medias/Avis_du_CSA_Presence_et
_representation_des_femmes.pdf&hash=f4846d604e4e5978faeef76969d24e5b59f0c7d0
1.1 European actions
At the European level, different acts have been taken:
•
In 1995, the Council of the European Union adopted the Resolution on the image
of women and men portrayed in advertising and the media (http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:41995X1110(01):EN:HTML) .
With this resolution, the Council has invited the Member States and competent
authorities to promote a balanced participation of both women and men in
production bodies, administrative bodies and decision-making posts. The Council
has encouraged both advertising agencies and media to promote:
o
“the study, creation and formulation of new ideas to reflect the diversity of
the roles of women and men;
o
recognition of the negative effects which stereotypes based on sex may
have on the physical and mental health of the public in general and of
young people in particular;
o
•
the development and implementation of voluntary self-regulatory codes.”59
In 1997, with the Resolution on discrimination against women in advertising
(http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&refe
rence=A4-1997-0258&language=EN) , the European Parliament reiterated its
request in behalf of a balanced female participation, with the aim to reinforce
women’s influence in messages content and to aid them to participate at decisionmaking processes. The European Parliament has also invited the media to
contribute to the evolution of mentalities and asked for a fight against sexist
stereotypes in contents, images and languages of advertising.
58
http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/equality/03themes/womenmedia/CDEG_2011_15_en_handbook.pdf page 4
59
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:41995X1110(01):EN:HTML
59
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
The
European
project
called
“Screening
Gender”
(http://yle.fi/vintti/yle.fi/gender/index.html) has been developed from 1997 to
2001. It consists in an audiovisual training toolkit and it brings together pieces of
video footage that show the relation existing between genders and the media.
•
In 2002, in a recommendation on women’s image in the media, the European
Council demanded to the Member States to adopt a law in behalf of equality
between sexes, to fund new equality projects in the media, and to reinforce auto
regulation within advertising sector.
•
In 2006, the European Council adopted a resolution aimed to realize equality
between genders including some recommendations addressed to the media to
protect of females against violence, fight against human trafficking and ensure
equality on labour market.
1.2 Belgian Laws:
•
In 2003, Belgium approved a law aimed to forbid the diffusion of texts, notices,
and all other forms concerning sex-based discriminations.
In 2005, the Senate voted a resolution asking to the government for a
reinforcement of self-discipline developed with the Advertising Ethics Jury (Jury
d’éthique publicitaire), and inviting it to look out on images that could be
understood as an incitement to discriminate people because of their sex.
•
In Flemish Community, the survey From image to image (D’image en Image) was
realized in 1995 by Antwerp University on demand of the Minister of Equal
opportunities. This study has proposed some instruments intended to catch
advertising and media world’s attention about the importance of images and their
eventual sexist characteristics.
•
In
French
Community,
article
9
of
the
2003
decree
(http://www.wbm.be/dbfiles/doc177_decretradiodiffusion.pdf)
on
broadcasting
forbids
programs
contrary to laws, public interest or human dignity, or containing incitation to
discrimination, hate or violence, particularly those referred to sex.
7) Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men –
Opinion on “Breaking gender stereotypes in the media”
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/genderequality/files/opinions_advisory_committee/2010_12_opinion_on_breaking_gender_stere
otypes_in_the_media_en.pdf
As it is possible to read at its beginning, “The purpose of this opinion is to propose
measures for the promotion of a balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women and
60
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
men in the media and in new technologies of communication. Together with this
objective goes the purpose to promote equal opportunities and working conditions for
women and men working in all areas of the media sector, as well as to increase
participation and access to expression and decision making for women in and throughout
the media.
Freedom of expression and information is also a fundamental right of our
democracies. The right balance therefore needs to be found between the fundamental
right to equality of women and men, the breaking of gender stereotypes in the media
and the fundamental right to freedom of information, freedom of expression in the
media, diversity of opinion and media pluralism.”60
This survey highlights the gap existing between the reality of men and women’s live and
how they are actually portrayed in the media.
Even if there are many women working in the media, they are strongly underrepresented in decision-making positions, and the obstacles they usually face in the
media profession are comparable to those they encounter in the general labour market.
This research proposes measures for the promotion of:
•
equal opportunities and working conditions in the media sector;
•
balanced and non-stereotyped perspectives;
•
increased participation and access at decision-making positions for women in and
throughout the media;
•
an in-depth study of the public image of women generated by the media,
including advertising.
Particularly, it affirms that several steps need to be taken.
In the matter of empowerment of women’s presence in media organizations, the research
affirms that “media companies should adopt positive action programs with measurable
objectives in order to:
•
integrate a gender dimension into their work and organization ;
•
encourage and empower women to take senior positions in their companies;
•
to guarantee equal working conditions to men and women regarding recruitment,
pay, training and career opportunities ;
•
to create and maintain expert databases of women ;
•
to achieve parity in experts panels.”61
60
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/genderequality/files/opinions_advisory_committee/2010_12_opinion_on_breaking_gender_stereotypes_in_the_med
ia_en.pdf
61
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/genderequality/files/opinions_advisory_committee/2010_12_opinion_on_breaking_gender_stereotypes_in_the_med
ia_en.pdf page 18
61
Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
On the other hand, also “National gender equality policies should adopt a proactive
approach to media issues by:
•
data collecting on men and women in the media ;
•
financing studies on stereotypes in the media ;
•
promoting networking and create more platforms, forums and links between all
national stakeholders (Gender equality-centred media profession, gender equality
experts and the academic sector) ;
•
promoting civil society activities and support their media initiatives ;
•
improving public awareness of the role and gender impact of the media through
campaigns, information days, round tables, etc.”62
The survey also asks itself “How could balanced and diverse portrayals of women and
men in the media be promoted?
On the European level:
•
constitution of a European Media Monitoring Group with a specific gender equality
branch and expertise including professionals and gender equality experts.
On national level of gender equality policies:
•
implementing without delay current EU legislation, complement and monitor its
application ;
•
developing media monitoring projects to be integrated in national strategies and
supervised in partnership with all European member states;
•
Promoting diverse and balanced images of women and men as well as increasing
their visibility in all types of media ;
•
Promoting gender equality as module for school, for training and university
studies of journalism and communication.”63
8) Global Media Monitoring Project
http://www.whomakesthenews.org/images/stories/website/gmmp_reports/2010/global/g
mmp_global_report_en.pdf
2.1 Gender stereotypes in traditional media
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ia_en.pdf page 18 - 19
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ia_en.pdf page 19
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
The Global Media Monitoring Project investigates also the presence of gender stereotypes
in news. First of all, it makes a distinction between:
•
Stories that reinforce gender stereotypes, those that “reinscribe the generalized,
simplistic and often exaggerated assumptions of masculinity and femininity in a
given cultural context”64
•
Stories that
challenge gender stereotypes, “those that
overturn common
assumptions about women and men in terms of their attributes, traits, roles or
occupations”65;
•
Stories that neither reinforce nor challenge gender stereotypes.
The table below shows a huge difference between the presence of stories that reinforce
gender stereotypes (46%) and those who challenge them (6%). Crime and Violence,
Celebrity, and Politics and Government are the categories more affected by gender
stereotypes.
Additionally,
they
occupy almost 60%
of
news
However,
agenda.
the
6%
statistic has doubled
the
2005
one,
implying a tendency
to
challenge
stereotypes.
Concerning
the
different regions, the
Figure : stories and gender stereotypes, by topics (Source: 2010 Who makes the news?)
report clearly shows
that:
•
In Africa, 77% of news reinforces stereotypes, 18% neither challengers nor
reinforces them, and 5% clearly challenges stereotypes;
•
In Asia, 42% of news reinforces stereotypes, 53% neither challengers nor
reinforces them, and 5% clearly challenges stereotypes;
•
In the Caribbean, 39% of news reinforces stereotypes, 55% neither challengers
nor reinforces them, and 6% clearly challenges stereotypes;
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
•
In Europe, 46% of news reinforces stereotypes, 49% neither challengers nor
reinforces them, and 4% clearly challenges stereotypes;
•
In Latin America, 30% of news reinforces stereotypes, 57% neither challengers
nor reinforces them, and 13% clearly challenges stereotypes;
•
In Middle East, 81% of news reinforces stereotypes, 14% neither challengers nor
reinforces them, and 4% clearly challenges stereotypes;
•
In North America, 61% of news reinforces stereotypes, 30% neither challenges
nor reinforces them, and 9% clearly challenges stereotypes;
•
In the Pacific area, 10% of news reinforces stereotypes, 88% neither challenges
nor reinforces them, and 2% clearly challenges stereotypes.
Reporter’s gender is an important factor as well. The GMMP’s survey founded that 7% of
news reported by women clearly challenged stereotypes, 35% reinforced them and 55%
neither reinforced nor challenged them. On the other hand, 4% of news reported by men
challenged stereotypes, 42% reinforced them and 51% neither challenged nor reinforced
them. Looking closely to the regions it is possible to see that, with the only exception of
North America, female reporters are more inclined to challenge stereotypes than male
ones who, on the other hand, are more inclined to perpetuate gender stereotypes.
Especially in the Caribbean, stories reported by women are almost 5 times as likely as
those by men to challenge gender stereotypes and in the Middle East they are 7 times as
likely. In North America, the results show a little difference between men and female
reporters, so it is possible to affirm that the perpetuation and the challenging of
stereotypes is not directly correlated with reporters’ gender.
Figure : gender stereotypes in reportage, by sex of reporter, by region (Source: 2010 Who makes the news?)
The survey reports also that “Stories specifically on women such as women’s economic
participation, women in political power and birth control are more likely to challenge
stereotypes than those on topics sometimes uncritically assumed to impact women and
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
men equally, such as politics, the economy, national defence and trade. In fact, these
topics do indeed have repercussions that inordinately impact women. High proportions of
stories on peace (64%), development (59%), war (56%), and gender-based violence
(56%) reinforce gender stereotypes. The greater proportion of news items on important
topics such as education (63% of stories) and family law (63%) appear to be neutral,
neither challenging nor reinforcing stereotypes. Neutrality however veils and serves to
perpetuate subtle or unquestioned gender bias, compounding the overall effect
stereotypical reportage has in cementing discrimination”66.
2.2 Gender stereotypes in the Internet
Internet is a source of gender stereotypes as well as traditional media. The GMMP’s
research found out that
Internet news stories and gender
stereotypes
42% of Internet news
reinforces stereotypes,
54% neither reinforces
Reinforces stereotypes
Challenges stereotypes
Neither reinforce nor challenges
nor
challenges
them,
and only 4% challenges
stereotypes (figure 49).
42%
4%
54%
This survey is focused
on the work of online
news
Figure : internet news stories and gender sterotypes (Source: 2010 Who makes the
news?)
editor
journalists,
and
which
seems faced with the
pressure to attract and retain a fickle and hard-to-please online audience. The websites
selected were reputable and linked to major media house.
The findings show a state of gender in online news media that is equally dismal if not
worse than in traditional media. Because of this, the survey affirm that “It is possible that
the internet news websites are in fact magnifying lenses through which gender biases
transmitted through traditional news mediums become even more visible, supporting a
worldview that is detrimental for equality, women’s and societal wellbeing”67. Moreover,
as it is possible to see in the graphic below (figure 50), women’s centrality in online news
media is incredibly lower regarding the men’s one.
66
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rt_en.pdf page 34
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rt_en.pdf page 42
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
Figure : women's centrality in internet news stories (Source: 2010 Who makes the news?)
2.3 Gender stereotypes in European media
The GMMPS’s research focuses its attention on gender stereotypes perpetuated by
European media as well. Total results show that 50% of news reinforces stereotype, 42%
neither reinforces nor challenges stereotypes and only 8% challenges stereotypes. News
sub-topics in which stereotypes are more challenges are:
•
Family law, family codes, property law, inheritance law and rights … (38%)
•
Human rights, women's rights, children's rights, gay & lesbian rights, rights of
minorities ... (24%)
•
Family relations, inter-generational conflict, single parents … (21%)
•
Women's participation in economic processes (informal work, paid employment,
unemployment, unpaid labour) (19%)
News sub-topics that more reinforce stereotypes are:
•
Beauty contests, models, fashion, beauty aids, cosmetic surgery … (73%)
•
Environment, nature,
•
Birth control, fertility, sterilization, amniocentesis, termination of pregnancy …
pollution, global warming, ecology, tourism … (68%)
(66%)
•
Peace, negotiations, treaties … (local, regional, national) (65%)
News that neither reinforces nor challenge stereotypes are related to:
•
Women's movement, activism, events, demonstrations, gender equality advocacy
… (79%)
•
Migration,
refugees,
asylum
seekers,
ethnic
conflict,
integration,
racism,
xenophobia … (64%)
•
National defence, military spending, military training, military parades, internal
security … (62%)
•
Stories on science or health and stories on celebrities, arts, media (55%)
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Women and mass media – G. Pozzi
2.4 Gender stereotypes in Belgian media
The French-speaking Belgian Medias have a strong tendency to neither reinforce nor
challenge gender stereotypes. In fact, as it is possible to see tin the table below, 82% of
themes contains “neutral” information. Despite these data, 12% of news still reinforces
stereotypes and only 6% challenges them. Three themes contribute to reinforce gender
stereotypes: Celebrity, arts and Media, sports (26%); Crime and Violence (26%); and
Economy (12%). Social and Legal, on the other hand, both reinforces and challenges
stereotypes in the same proportion (13%).
Figure : topics in which stereotypes are reinforced, challenged or neither, in French-speaking Belgium (Source: 2010 Who
makes the news? - Belgium)
The survey also highlights that only 28% of articles in which women are central are
written by female journalists. Moreover, there is no connection between being a female
journalist and challenging stereotypes. Contrary to what you might think, they are less
likely to challenges them in comparison to men: only 5% of reportages made by women
do it, in contrast with 10% of news reported by men. On the other hand, men tend to
reinforce stereotypes more than women do (19% and 11%, respectively). Given these
data, it is possible to affirm that Belgian francophone female journalists are more likely
to observe a prudence distance to those themes related to female and feminist subjects.
The situation is completely inversed in Flemish part of Belgium. First of all, 86% of
articles in which women are central were written by female journalists. They also tend to
challenges stereotypes two times more than men journalists do (9% and 5%,
respectively) but, according to this survey data, both sexes have a strong tendency to
reinforce stereotypes (84% for women and 88% for men).
67