By diversity we are talking about a wide range of identities, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic background, and religion.

In an article on this site, Naomi Goldsmith wrote about the role of women in the media. In ‘Gender equality in the media’ she argued that “Gender equality is important for both men and women. Neither gender benefits from being stereotyped and not being allowed to fulfil its full potential.”

Gender is just one area covered by diversity. The following are some of the ethical, editorial and business reasons why diversity in both staffing and coverage is important:

1. Accurate and authentic representation:
   • Diverse staffing:
     • Newsrooms and media organisations with diverse staff are better equipped to understand and report on the complexities of diverse communities.
     • Individuals from different backgrounds bring perspectives, experiences, and cultural knowledge that can enrich storytelling.
     • Employing journalists from a mixture of backgrounds helps avoid stereotypical or one-dimensional portrayals of marginalised groups.
   • Diverse coverage:
     • When media outlets prioritise diverse coverage, they give voice to underrepresented communities and shed light on issues that might otherwise be ignored.
     • This fosters a more inclusive and accurate reflection of society, promoting understanding and empathy while also creating richer editorial output..
2. Countering bias and promoting fairness:
   • Diverse staffing:
     • A lack of diversity in media can lead to unconscious bias in reporting, resulting in skewed or inaccurate story telling.
     • Diverse newsrooms are more likely to challenge these biases and ensure fair and accurate coverage – while taking care to avoid false equivalence and false balance.
   • Diverse coverage:
     • Media that consistently prioritises diverse viewpoints helps to counter dominant narratives and challenge prevailing assumptions.
     • This promotes a more comprehensive understanding of complex social issues.
3. Building trust and credibility:
   • Diverse staffing:
     • When audiences see themselves reflected in the media, they are more likely to trust the information they receive.
     • Diverse newsrooms foster a sense of inclusivity and build stronger connections with their communities.
   • Diverse coverage:
     • Media that accurately and respectfully portrays diverse communities gains credibility and fosters trust with a wider audience.
     • This is essential for maintaining a healthy and informed public discourse.
4. Enhancing creativity and innovation:
   • Diverse staffing:
     • Diverse teams bring a wider range of perspectives and ideas, leading to more creative and innovative storytelling.
     • This can help media organizations stay relevant and engage with a rapidly changing audience.
   • Diverse coverage:
     • By highlighting diverse stories, media outlets expose their audiences to new perspectives and ideas, enriching the cultural landscape.

Supporting information:

• National Union of Journalists (NUJ):
  • The UK’s NUJ highlights what it sees as a concerning lack of diversity in UK newsrooms, emphasising the need for greater representation.
  • Link: Fewer than one in five media workers believe newsroom diversity is a top priority in their workplace – National Union of Journalists (NUJ)
• Jefferson University:
  • The importance of representation is underlined by information from Jefferson University which shows how media can shape perspectives.
  • Link: How can the media Improve representations of diverse identities?
• The Diversity Dashboard:
  • The importance of diversity in media careers is set out by the UK’s Diversity Dashboard. The site contains information diversity in the media industry along with the many different career paths within the media and journalism.
  • Link: Careers in media: Opportunities and the importance of diversity

In conclusion, diversity in media is not just a matter of social justice; it is essential for producing accurate, fair, and engaging content that reflects the complexity of our world.

Diversity in journalism is crucial not only for fair representation but also for improving the quality and relevance of news coverage. It ensures that media content speaks to a broader audience, reflecting the complexity of the society it serves.

Diversity encompasses a wide range of identities, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic background, and religion. By including these varied perspectives, journalism becomes more comprehensive, nuanced, and relatable.

One key area where diversity matters is in staffing. Journalists from different backgrounds bring unique experiences, cultural knowledge, and perspectives that enrich storytelling and lead to more authentic representation. This helps avoid stereotypical portrayals, particularly of marginalised groups, while providing greater depth and complexity in news coverage. A diverse newsroom is also better equipped to understand and report on communities often overlooked by traditional media.

Ensuring diversity in coverage is equally important. By reporting on a wide range of voices and experiences, media outlets shine a light on underrepresented communities and the issues that affect them. This approach not only promotes empathy and understanding but also helps counteract bias and challenge dominant narratives. A diverse editorial focus allows journalism to tackle complex social issues in a way that is fair, accurate, and informative.

Diversity also plays a critical role in building trust and credibility. Audiences are more likely to engage with a media organisation that reflects their realities and perspectives. When people see themselves accurately and respectfully portrayed, it strengthens their connection to the news and fosters a more inclusive media landscape. This is essential for maintaining public trust and supporting healthy democratic discourse.

Lastly, diversity enhances creativity and innovation within journalism. A wide range of voices in the newsroom leads to more dynamic storytelling, fresh ideas, and new ways of engaging audiences. Similarly, diverse coverage exposes audiences to different cultures, experiences, and viewpoints, enriching the overall media landscape.

In an increasingly diverse and global society, prioritising diversity in journalism is not just ethically important, it is vital for the industry’s relevance and survival.

The post Diversity in journalism first appeared on Media Helping Media.

Learning objective

Students will critically analyse media content to identify gender stereotypes and evaluate strategies for promoting gender equality. They will apply these strategies to create a media piece that challenges existing stereotypes and supports gender equality.

• Student-facing objective: By the end of this lesson students will be able to spot gender stereotypes in the media and come up with ways to promote gender equality through their own media work.
• Standards: To teach journalism students how they can play an important role in promoting gender equality rather than perpetuating gender stereotypes.

Learning activities

Warm-up

• Begin with a brief discussion on the difference between gender and sex. Ask students to share their understanding of these terms. Clarify that sex refers to biological differences, while gender is socially constructed and fluid.
• Next, present a short media clip or image that includes both male and female characters. Prompt students with: “What do you notice about how men and women are portrayed?” and “What do you wonder about the choices made in this portrayal?”
• Encourage students to share observations and questions with a partner. Conclude by asking a few students to share their insights with the class. Record key points to reference later. This primes students for deeper analysis of gender representation in media.

Direct instruction

• Conceptual understanding: Introduce the concept of gender representation in media. Present statistics on gender disparity in media coverage, such as women making up only a quarter of those seen or heard in news output. Discuss the implications of these statistics on public perception and societal norms. Use real-world examples, like the portrayal of women in STEM fields, to illustrate how media can both challenge and reinforce stereotypes.
• Procedural skills and fluency: Guide students through an analysis of a media piece. Provide a news article or video segment. Ask students to identify the gender of the individuals featured, their roles, and how they are portrayed. Encourage them to note any stereotypes or biases. Facilitate a class discussion on their findings, focusing on how these portrayals align or conflict with the principles of gender equality.
• Application: Challenge students to create a brief media piece (e.g., a news article, blog post, or video script) that promotes gender equality. Provide criteria: equal representation of genders, avoidance of stereotypes, and inclusion of diverse voices. Allow students to work in pairs or small groups. Conclude with a sharing session where students present their work and reflect on the process of consciously promoting gender equality in media.

Guided practice

Think, Pair, Share: Guide students through a structured analysis of a media piece to identify gender stereotypes and biases.

• Think: Present a media clip or article. Ask students to individually note any gender stereotypes or biases they observe.
• Pair: Have students pair up to discuss their observations. Encourage them to compare notes and identify common themes or differences.
• Share: Facilitate a class discussion where pairs share their findings. Highlight key points and connect them to the lesson’s learning objective.
• Reflect: Ask students to reflect on how these stereotypes might influence public perception and societal norms.
• Connect: Encourage students to consider how they can apply these insights to their own media work to promote gender equality.

Independent practice

• Assign students to select a media piece (e.g., article, video, advertisement) and analyse it for gender representation.
• Instruct them to identify the gender of individuals featured, their roles, and any stereotypes or biases present.
• Ask students to write a brief reflection on how the media piece aligns or conflicts with gender equality principles.
• Encourage students to propose one strategy for improving gender representation in the selected media piece.

Circulate to observe and support students as needed.

Assignment

Ask students to answer these questions:

1. How can media perpetuate gender stereotypes?
2. What is one strategy you can use to promote gender equality in media?
3. What’s one question you still have from today’s lesson?

Here are some suggested answers:

• Suggested answer to Question 1: Media can perpetuate gender stereotypes by consistently portraying women in passive roles or as victims, and by not featuring women as experts or leaders.
• Suggested answer to Question 2: One strategy is to ensure equal representation of genders in media content and to avoid using stereotypes in portrayals.

Teacher resources

Differentiation guide

• Advanced learners: Encourage deeper analysis by having students explore the impact of gender representation in media on different cultures. Suggest they research and present findings on how media portrayal of gender varies globally and its societal implications. Challenge them to create a media piece that addresses these cultural differences while promoting gender equality.
• Striving learners: Simplify tasks by providing structured templates for media analysis and creation. Offer examples of gender stereotypes and biases to guide their analysis. Pair them with peers for collaborative work, ensuring they have support in identifying stereotypes and proposing strategies for gender equality. Use visual aids and simplified language to reinforce key concepts.
• Background reading: We recommend you read the article ‘Gender equality in the media‘ before planning this lesson.

Notable definitions

• Gender: Socially constructed roles, behaviors, and attributes that a society considers appropriate for men and women. Unlike sex, gender is fluid and can vary across cultures and time.
• Stereotype: A widely held but oversimplified and fixed idea or image of a particular type of person or thing, often leading to prejudiced attitudes and beliefs.
• Representation: The way in which media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a particular ideological or value perspective.

Required materials

• Media clips or images featuring both male and female characters
• News articles or video segments for analysis
• Materials for creating media pieces (e.g., paper, pens, computers)
• Access to online resources for research and media creation
• Reflection sheets for independent practice
• Assignment slips for student responses

Lesson summary

• Warm-up
• Direct instruction
• Guided practice
• Independent practice
• Assignment

The free teaching tools at the Khan Academy were used as a basis for converting the original article into a lesson plan.

Related article

Gender equality in the media

The post Lesson: Gender Equality first appeared on Media Helping Media.

Is your news organisation and its output male dominated? Are women fairly represented in newsroom leadership roles and the stories covered? Do your staff and your news agenda reflect the society they serve?

A 12-point plan containing “substantive opportunities to reshape the status quo” and improve the representation and voices of women in the global news industry was published in November 2022.

We look at the steps suggested and examine the possible consequences.

The report Outrage to Opportunity looks at the representation of women in newsrooms in India, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK, and the USA.

Luba Kassova, the report’s author, says in-depth interviews with more than 40 senior editors in the six countries revealed two areas of concern:

• The “underrepresentation” of women in news leadership roles.
• The “invisibility” of women in news coverage.

Kassova’s research revealed a “cultural exclusion” of women in news leadership roles and found that the voices of women “remain muted in a global news industry”.

However the study also recognises that progress is being made. It looks at 168 existing initiatives which aim to improve women’s representation or inclusion in news.

And it identifies practical steps that could be taken to “include the missing perspectives of women of all colours in news leadership and coverage”.

The report says that taking these steps could open up significant business opportunities and that “global revenues in the newspaper industry would increase by a cumulative $11bn by 2027 and $38 billion by 2032“.

This article looks at those 12 practical steps that could be taken by news organisations. They are listed below with the author’s permission.

The 282-page document – embedded at the foot of this article – sets out three areas which the author says “requires the news industry’s urgent attention”.

1: Inclusion

The report found that women are still on the margins of editorial decision-making in the highest-profile news areas. In the major journalistic specialisms such as business, politics, and foreign affairs, women hold as few as one in six editorial roles in the countries researched. Occasional instances of parity, for example South African political editors or US business editors, are counterbalanced by exclusively male leadership in political editor roles in countries such as Kenya and India.

2: Race

According to the report, women news leaders are subject to marginalisation in countries with multi-racial populations such as South Africa, the UK, and the US. This, the report says, is a news industry “blind spot”. In the countries examined their representation is significantly below their proportion in the working population. Kassova says that when interviewed, news leadership teams are either unaware, reactive, push back, or turn a blind eye to the problem.

3: Coverage

The report says the coverage of issues that affect women is disproportionate. Just 0.02% of news coverage globally focuses on the gaps between men and women in pay, power, safety, authority, confidence, health, and ageism. According to the report:

“Just having women in many leadership positions is not the only solution. You need women’s voices to be heard, and, when women are in leadership positions, for them to be in meaningful positions.”

Steps to be taken

The report outlines 12 solutions for:

“changing the status quo and improving women’s representation and inclusion in news leadership and creating a more balanced and inclusive news coverage that engages more female and racially-diverse audiences”.

News sector level 

1. Consolidate efforts at an industry level to enhance progress 

• Set up a body that unifies all working in this area under the umbrella of the gender equity cause.
• Nonprofits and associations working to improve women’s position in news should collaborate more and compete less.
• Develop industry-wide initiatives that aim to understand women audiences.

News organisational level

2. Conduct a comprehensive gender diversity audit across all elements of the news operation

• Carry out an audit of the existing gender balance and news initiatives for women along all the elements of the value chain.

3. Make the gender diversity strategy explicit

• Agree the goal to pursue gender balance in your news organisation and coverage and make it explicit in the organisation’s strategy.

News leadership level

4. Improve the representation of all women

• Raise awareness that male-favouring norms prevail in society and in journalism.
• Be intentional about change at all levels within your news organisation by setting targets and measuring representation continuously along the whole news value chain.
• Challenge the persistent soft vs. hard news gender stereotyping that keeps women out of editorial roles in high-profile areas such as politics, economics, and foreign affairs.
• Develop talent retention programmes, especially for mid-level managers.

5. Improve specifically the representation of women of colour

• Measure women’s representation to understand the role of race and ethnicity when overlaid onto gender.
• Review recruitment and retention processes to accommodate diverse talent.
• Establish and measure targets for representation and inclusion of women of colour.

6. Improve the inclusion of all women in decision-making

• Ensure everyone understands that a more diverse team does not automatically translate into inclusive decision making.
• Consciously tone down the competitive win-lose journalistic values inside the newsroom to create a more empathetic culture.
• Encourage support groups for women, with men on board.
• Use employee engagement surveys to measure employees’ and leaders’ perceived inclusion.
• Set up initiatives that specifically support individual women’s safety and well-being.

7. Improve specifically the inclusion of women of colour in decision making

• Beware of knee-jerk reactions to external trigger events which lead to superficial solutions.
• Educate yourself about the stressful experiences of women of colour in your news organisation.
• When considering a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiative, bring in experts to run it rather than allocating it to staff with lived experiences but no formalised expertise.
• Do not expect women or ethnic minority groups to lead and resolve their own underrepresentation or exclusion. Offer support.
• If you are a woman of colour, do not take on DEI initiatives if this is too emotionally draining.
• Measure and track the success of DEI initiatives. Establish baselines before the initiatives start.

Newsroom and journalism level

8. Improve the representation and inclusion of women in newsrooms 

• Implement recommendations for gender diversity in the workplace from the “Gender Parity in News Checklist” in ‘The Missing Perspectives of Women in News’ report (p. 166). The two-page checklist is embedded at the foot of this article.

Newsgathering and news coverage

9. Improve the representation of all women

• Focus on circumventing the five main biases in journalism (status quo, male bias leading to gender blindness, short-term outlook, reductive journalism, organisations’ unwillingness to report on themselves).
• Measure the impact of your women-centric journalism.
• Make your newsroom more inclusive and accessible through outreach training.
• Ensure the sustainability of interventions to diversify contributors: keep them simple, get backing from both the top and the grassroots, and, ideally, make them voluntary.

10. Improve storytelling about women of all colours

• Look for story angles that appeal to both women and men.
• Use more micro angles in storytelling, including human stories to make macro stories relevant.
• Increase news coverage of seven gender gaps (power, pay, safety, authority, confidence, health, and ageism), which are wider for people of colour.
• Introduce inclusive storytelling and encompass the perspectives of different communities and audience groups about how a particular story affects them.

11. Improve the portrayal of all women

• Recognise that the portrayal of women of all colours in the news is an industry blind spot.
• Start measuring the use of common gender or racial stereotypes in your news coverage.
• Focus on expertise rather than identity when interviewing women contributors.
• Conduct portrayal analyses to understand how news contributors are portrayed.

News consumption and impact

12. Reframe the case for change to include the business opportunity of serving women audiences 

• Develop a business plan for increasing revenue from women audiences whilst still retaining men’s readership.
• Research and develop women-friendly news products and formats.
• Track women’s engagement and consumption.
• Track the impacts of any new strategy (on finance, brand, individuals, influencers, and decision-makers).

The business case

The report says gender equality in news makes business sense. It claims that if the “addressable gender consumption gap” in the global news industry is closed there could be a potential cumulative revenue opportunity of $43 billion between 2023 and 2027 and $83 billion between 2023 and 2032. See the section of the report covering business opportunities (part 4, chapter 2).

Outrage to Opportunities

The entire 282-page report Outrage to Opportunity is embedded below.

The report was produced by the international audience strategy consultancy AKAS, and published by Internews.

The gender parity in news checklist

This checklist appeared on pages 166 and 167 in the 2020 report by Luba Kassova “The Missing Perspectives of Women in News“. It is republished here with the author’s permission.

The post Female representation in news leadership and coverage first appeared on Media Helping Media.

The role of the journalist in rectifying gender imbalance in media is multifaceted, and it involves both individual actions and contributing to broader systemic change.

The number of women and men in the world is roughly equal according to data compiled in 2021. However women make up about a quarter of those heard, read about or seen in news output. And only one in five experts interviewed by journalists are women.

To find out why, and what can be done about it, we first need to consider the difference between gender and sex.

Sex refers to biological differences between men and women. Men produce sperm and women can become pregnant, bear children and breastfeed. These differences are permanent without surgery and medicine.

Gender refers to socially constructed differences between women and men. These differences are not biological and are therefore fluid. They vary between cultures, within cultures, and over time. This affects how we are seen and how we are expected to behave as men and women.

Media can play an important role in either promoting gender equality or perpetuating gender stereotypes.

Women make up half the population and therefore make up half the audience so it doesn’t make sense to pay them less attention. They make decisions on behalf of themselves, their families and their businesses or organisations. They also possess half the potential of the global population.

Women are customers. They buy goods and services for themselves. They are business owners and householders so they are attractive to advertisers and other businesses. It makes no financial sense to underestimate women in any media business plan.

But, despite this, the portrayal of women in the media is often far from accurate. The media needs to ensure it offers proportional and fair coverage of women rather than resorting to using outdated stereotypes.

According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2018) more than half of all scientists in Thailand are women. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects that have traditionally been seen as a male area of expertise and so this is an impressive achievement. However, a 2015 UNESCO study found that women are more likely to be depicted as victims, family members and sex objects in the media throughout Asia.

Journalists who use such stereotypes in their coverage are failing in one of the core values of journalism – accuracy.

Take a look at any mainstream media organisation and consider how women and girls are portrayed. Check how often women are interviewed as experts in their field. Assess how often women are portrayed as victims.

In children’s cartoons, films and stories observe how girls and boys are depicted and consider what influence this might have on children and their parents.

It is possible you will notice gender bias. This is why gender equality is important. Journalists and media organisations can address this.

When a speaker is needed for an opinion on an issue ensure that half those selected are women. To be an expert a person doesn’t necessarily need to have an academic qualification. Traditionally, women have carried out unpaid work but through that work they become experts in that field.

Media managers can ensure that recruitment is gender blind. They can ask someone in the organisation who is not connected with the selection process to present job applicant’s CVs and covering letters without reference to their gender or identities. This prevents candidates being judged unfairly by their names at the early stage. Some names are an indication of ethnicity or social background.

Human resources (HR) managers should ensure that there is a balance of genders in all sections of a media organisation, including technical roles, senior editorial positions, board members and owners. However there isn’t much HR can do about ownership

Women should be paid the same as men for performing similar duties. In some organisations women do similar work as men and yet are paid less. In 2017, the BBC was found to be paying the top rates of pay to twice as many male presenters as they were to their female presenters. The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission did not find any unlawful acts of pay discrimination but the corporation was told to have greater transparency and rebuild trust with women who work there. However, following some high-profile complaints of unfair pay between men and women, 700 female staff received pay rises.

Women can face additional pressures such as online harassment as a result of their media work. This can include threats of violence and sexual insults. Media managers need to be aware of this and work with both female and male staff to introduce safeguarding measures.

Introducing gender equality in a media workplace is not difficult. There are a number of simple questions journalists and media managers need to address.

In programme output, do women appear as knowledgeable and empowered or are they in passive roles as victims? Do they exist only in their relation to a man? Do the concerns and interests of women receive half the attention as those of men?

When the opinions of a business owner or farmer are needed for a story don’t always turn to a man. Similarly, a caregiver can be male.

Are the questions the same? Are female politicians, activists and experts asked different questions to the ones asked of men in these positions? When do you hear male interviewees being asked how they manage to cope with juggling a career with raising children?

Are men and women depicted according to their gender or for the story? Are male interviewees photographed or filmed in the same way as female interviewees?

Consider the language used in scripts and introductions. Use camera operator instead of cameraman or camerawoman. police officer instead of policeman or policewoman. Humankind instead of mankind. This puts the job or role ahead of the gender and prevents the lazy assumption that the job or role is carried out by a man.

Some languages are more gendered than others and often the default is that the masculine is predominant. For example, in Spanish – a male friend is amigo and a female friend is amiga, but a group of friends takes the masculine and is amigos. You might wonder if this difference has an impact on society’s attitude to gender. It is worth noting that languages are always evolving, just like our views of gender.

Summary

Gender equality is important for both men and women. Neither gender benefits from being stereotyped and not being allowed to fulfil its full potential.

• Take steps to ensure that women are represented in all roles and at all levels in your media organisation and that they are paid the same for doing the same work.
• Is the workplace comfortable for both women and men? Find solutions for dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace and online.
• Avoid stereotyping when presenting men and women in your content.
• Make your language as gender-inclusive as possible.
• Be aware of and address cases where unconscious bias is affecting your output.

All our communities benefit when individual differences are welcomed and everyone – regardless of their gender – can play a full role in their society and are not expected to fill certain predetermined roles.

Every media organisation needs to provide gender equality training for all staff, regardless of their gender. Such training needs to filter through every level of the organisation from senior managers to interns on work experience. It needs to be part of the core values of the organisation and the policy should be visible in everything that is produced.

By Naomi Goldsmith

Despite progress in many areas, the news industry continues to struggle with gender equality. Women remain underrepresented in newsrooms, particularly in leadership roles, and their voices are often marginalised in news coverage.

This imbalance has significant implications for the quality and diversity of information that shapes public discourse.

One of the most pressing issues is the lack of women in decision-making positions. Despite making up a significant portion of journalism graduates, women are still underrepresented in top editorial roles.

This disparity affects not only the career trajectories of female journalists but also the kinds of stories that are prioritised and how they are framed.

Even when women are present in newsrooms, their voices are often sidelined in news coverage. Studies have shown that female sources are quoted far less frequently than male sources, and women are often relegated to covering “soft” news topics such as lifestyle and entertainment, while men dominate coverage of politics, economics, and international affairs.

This gender imbalance in news has several consequences. It perpetuates harmful stereotypes, limits the diversity of perspectives, and ultimately undermines the credibility of news organisations.

When women’s voices are excluded or marginalised, important stories go untold, and the public is left with an incomplete understanding of the world.

However, there are reasons to be optimistic. In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the need for greater gender equality in news.

Organisations such as the International Women’s Media Foundation and the Women’s Media Center are working to support female journalists and promote their work. There are also increasing calls for newsrooms to implement policies that promote diversity and inclusion.

The rise of digital media has created new opportunities for women to share their stories and perspectives. Independent news outlets and online platforms are providing spaces for women to report on issues that are often ignored by mainstream media.

Gender equality in news is not just a women’s issue – it is a matter of fairness, accuracy, and the pursuit of a more informed and just society.

Questions

1. What is the difference between sex and gender?
2. According to Naomi’s article, what percentage of experts interviewed by journalists are women?
3. How does the media influence gender equality or perpetuate gender stereotypes?
4. Why is it financially beneficial for media businesses to accurately represent women?
5. What role do journalists play in addressing gender bias in media coverage?
6. How does the portrayal of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills in Thailand contrast with their depiction in media throughout Asia?
7. What measures can media managers take to ensure gender equality in recruitment?
8. How does Naomi’s article suggest addressing pay disparities between men and women in media organisations?
9. What are some of the additional pressures women face in media work, according to the article?
10. How can language use in media contribute to gender inclusivity?

Answers

1. Sex refers to biological differences, while gender refers to socially constructed differences that are fluid and vary across cultures and time.
2. Only 20% (one in five) of experts interviewed by journalists are women (2022)
3. The media can either promote gender equality or perpetuate stereotypes by how it portrays women and men, influencing societal perceptions and expectations.
4. Women make up half the population and audience, influencing purchasing decisions and possessing significant potential, making them valuable to advertisers and businesses.
5. Journalists can address gender bias by ensuring fair and accurate representation of women, avoiding stereotypes, and selecting diverse experts for interviews.
6. In Thailand, over half of scientists are women, yet media in Asia often depicts women as victims or in stereotypical roles, highlighting a disparity.
7. Media managers can ensure gender-blind recruitment by anonymising CVs and cover letters to prevent bias based on gender or identity.
8. The text suggests ensuring equal pay for similar work and increasing transparency, as seen in the BBC’s response to pay disparities.
9. Women in media face online harassment, including threats and insults, necessitating safeguarding measures by media managers.
10. Using gender-neutral language, such as “camera operator” instead of “cameraman,” helps prevent assumptions and promotes inclusivity.

Lesson plan for trainers

If you are a trainer of journalists we have a free Lesson plan: Gender equality in the media which you are welcome to download and adapt for your own purposes.

The post Gender equality in the media first appeared on Media Helping Media.