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More women in the media but gender bias persists
2006-04-19 10:42:11
By Correspondent Moses Magadza
While the presence of more women in senior positions in newsrooms is a welcome change to the masculine face of media, this has not been accompanied by a qualitative difference in the way women are represented. It is very unfortunate.
Women journalists are fighting a battle on two fronts - the attitudes of their male counterparts, as well as their own internalized sexism.
There remain salient aspects of news production that reveal gender bias. An obvious example is the gender of sources who are still mostly male.
One of the findings of the Gender and Media Baseline Study conducted in 2003 in which 25 110 news items were monitored in 12 Southern African countries was that women constituted a mere 17 percent of news sources.
There is a disproportional focus on government officials who are usually men, as sources, as well as an over-reliance on powerful political and economic figures as authoritative commentators.
This powerful superstructure inherently eliminates the ordinary female voice and many female journalists seem to be willing accomplices in maintaining the status quo.
Having more women in the media does not automatically mean that this will change.
The problem is that women themselves are unaware of their own biased attitudes, which have been informed by their conditioning; as have men.
So calls to increase the number of women in leadership positions in the media, may not have the desired effect if they behave like their male counterparts.
A Namibian male journalist I know says: ’Let’s face it, women always complain about how sexist and male chauvinist newsrooms are, but what do they do to change the situation when they get there?
Nothing! They are their own oppressors.’
Another female journalist agrees that this is sometimes the case but argues that it is a result of established norms and values present not only in the media, but in all institutions in society, including families.
These norms entrench women’s position in society and in the media, and often relegate them to soft beats writing about fashion, beauty, cooking and interior design.
It has been argued that repots written on rape by women have a greater impact on rape legislation than those written by men.
Despite this many women (and men) journalists produce reports that refer to the survivor of the assault being ’indecently dressed’ which question the motives of the survivor, instead of blaming the perpetrator.
But editors also have a responsibility.
The International Women’s Media Foundation argues that ’whoever controls assignments, decides how a story is going to be covered … is not only shaping the content of news, but is deciding what readers and listeners know.
Media leaders are not just industry leaders, they have the power to shape society’s attitudes.’
Unless every member of the newsroom interrogates their own attitudes and beliefs, the representation of women in the media will continue to reflect stereotypical attitudes that do not contribute towards building equal and democratic societies.
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