Journalist Viv Groskop came in to our Journalism and Diversity class today and gave us a fascinating talk about women (or the lack of them) in journalism.
From the outset, I didn’t think the divide would be too huge. Yes, we’d expect to see more men in the sports pages and more women writing about families and relationships, but on the whole I was under the impression that the gender stakes had evened out over the last decade or so.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.My rudimentary count of today’s Daily Mail by-lines found 55 males and 27 females. And that was even WITH today’s Femail section. In fact, if you took away that pull-out, the number of female journalists named in today’s paper would have been reduced 15. Fifteen compared to fifty-five.
The ratios were similar across all the nationals.
Shocking really when you consider that about 80 per cent of our journalism class are females. What chance do we have?
Unless we want to write about lipstick, Madonna’s varicose veins and how to find our g-spots in our ears, it’s looking like getting into news is nothing short of an uphill struggle. Not that there’s a problem in the former stories, as Viv explained in our seminar, women hold a very important commercial value in writing these types of articles – that’s how they attract the big-money advertisers.
But as a hard news journo, this simple study has given me a new perspective on my career outlook. While I’m not going to give up applying for the grad schemes just yet, I’m always going to have that biting question in my mind if I do get rejected: “was it just because I’m a woman?”
Good additional reading for this, although she does get a bit whiny at points: Deborah Orr “floundering in the macho media”
LATE EDIT: Also check out the wonderful Sarah Booker’s blog post on women in journalism. I agree with every point in this post – and I only wish I’d been top of the year in biology too!
Tags: daily mail, gender divide, graduate scheme, Journalism, sexism, viv groskop, women in journalism
Interesting post Lara. Reminded me of a talk I attended about the lack of female editors in the higher echelons of newspaper businesses. One of the speakers, South African journalist Ferial Haffajee from City Press, really made be stop and think about the idea of writing about women’s issues as a woman and whether this was an ‘easy option’ for a female journalist. She suggested that it was almost a female journalist’s duty to find the hard news stories within women’s issues e.g. violence against women, health issues etc and that there was a real opportunity for female journalists to go into this niche (if you can call it that!). Rather than reflecting the views and concerns of a predominantly male audience (for her title anyhow), she suggested having female journalists find the hard news stories about women would be a way to challenge this.
And your post has made me think about this again
Glad the blog served as a thought piece.
I’m not sure how relevant “women’s isssues” are in an age of equality (Although I guess it can still be argued whether we are truly at this age yet and whether we even need to be). Indeed, the Daily Mail, read by a female majority, sometimes serves to almost trash women (“Look at her cellulite”, “she shouldn’t be wearing short skirts at her age” etc.) more than it seems to cover women’s issues.
I’d prefer it if there were more women writing splashes, more women in the political sections, more women in the comment pages (Not just the token pretty women who take the “women’s view”). We don’t write stories about men overcoming adversity because we don’t need to, and I’d argue that we don’t need to write about women in this way because it’s not necessary.
Most people probably disagree with me on this point. I don’t think men and women are equal, and they never will be (Ref: my “unfunny women” feature in The River , http://www.flickr.com/photos/48378380@N08/4425009597/ ) but I think equality in the way women are portrayed in the press would also help female journalists progress.
It would be interesting to see what you think!
Thanks for following me on Twitter lara
This diversity module sounds really interesting, and I think it’s a point that needs to be addressed not only in the media but across the job market in general.
http://ptbdisorder.wordpress.com
No probs, I’ve also subscribed to your blog
Loved the “student journalists take note” post.
You’re right, there are still more males in high positions of power than women. But perhaps this generation of female graduates will help bridge this gap over the next decade or so.