4 things to know about closing the media’s gender gap

March is both Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day. Since a big part of what we do is training journalists, the Advocacy Assembly team wanted to highlight the media industry’s status for closing the gender gap. Here are four key facts to know from the UN Women’s data visualisation examining women’s representation in society.  

• When it comes to equality of men and women in the news media, progress has virtually ground to a halt. According to the largest study on the portrayal, participation and representation of women in the news media spanning 20 years and 114 countries, only 24 per cent of the persons heard, read about or seen in newspaper, television and radio news are women.
• A glass ceiling also exists for women news reporters in newspaper bylines and newscast reports, with 37 per cent of stories reported by women as of 2015, showing no change over the course of a decade.
• Despite the democratising promise of digital media, women’s poor representation in traditional news media is also reflected in digital news, with women making up only 26 per cent of the people in Internet news stories and media news tweets.
• Only 4 percent of traditional news and digital news stories clearly challenge gender stereotypes. Among other factors, stereotypes and the significant underrepresentation of women in the media play a significant role in shaping harmful attitudes of disrespect and violence towards women.
   

Concerned about gender equality and want to protect yourself online? Sign up for our free course by APC on online gender-based violence.