Adie however is not the only example of a woman who has broken free from the mould. If we move away from the western perspectives on this question we can clearly see that other countries’ have experienced a change in the situation within which women journalists find themselves working in. For instance, if we were to take Afghanistan as an example: during the Taliban’s regime, it was mandatory than Afghan women stayed at home and were not seen in public. After the United States led military intervention however, thousands of these girls and women took up jobs in the world of journalism. It was in fact a female reporter who announced the fall of this fundamentalist rule. While this is not representative of all women in the east it does show that women in journalism are being given more opportunities. Male correspondents still remain to be a dominating force this side of the world.
Many critics still refer to there being ‘a macho newsroom culture’ within which women must compete.
Women journalists appear to be suffering a lot more in the media than we are told. Within the newsroom: things such as women sleeping with the boss to get better stories and tales of sexual harassment cases have become normalised. Whereas stories are now being published in the media detailing how women journalists, fall victim to acts of physical and sexual assault while in the field. “Women were afraid to discuss fears of rape with their male bosses in case they suffered career setbacks” this is a serious matter, and this quote, which reflects the views of numerous female war reporters intensifies the idea that women journalists are still scared of, being taken seriously, ability to do the job and trusting their supervisors.
Women do not have to be scrutinised by their work colleagues or fall victims to the aforementioned problems which occur in the workplace. The internet appears to have become a saviour for female journalists. It gives women the freedom to work from home or abroad with only occasional visits to the office. This means she is able to produce high quality work during their own time and not have to get bogged down with all the ‘office politics’ or worrying about potential clashes and arguments with her male counterpart. It does however mean that she could miss out on certain information about upcoming news stories and is less likely to be selected for certain reports.
The stories which women are ‘allowed’ to report on majorly affect the relationship between male and female equals. If women are given bigger, more prestigious feeds, they are often criticised as having slept with their bosses or having found another way to manipulate their managers into giving them the air time. It is assumed that women are simply not good enough to report on any ‘worthwhile’ material. The quote “Women are… judged by their appearance rather than their competence” represent’s a fair (albeit unjust) view expressed by men in the news industry.
Another way in which the internet has served to help women’s struggle in the field of journalism is the means in which it helps women voice their opinions. Women have utilised the internet as a means of producing alternative news sources. Websites such as “Women’s E-News” and “Feminist International Radio Endeavour” are two such sites, providing a platform on which women journalists can show off their journalistic abilities and skills.
“Women’s alternative news media have, at various historical junctures disrupted conventional new values and mainstream ways of representing women.”
The Gender Pay gap is a huge factor for the female workforce today. The gap in the media industry is one of the biggest in the UK.
This matter, along with a decision which female reporters are now calling “the single most important issue affecting women journalists today” are contributing factors as to the reasons why women journalists are finding their work difficult. This issue is, of course, that of raising a family. Women journalists find it extraordinarily complicated to find an equal balance between the long hours they are required to put in at work with the long hours they must donate to their giving their children a good upbringing. This dual responsibility means women often have to make a choice between the two. ‘Career breaks’ can often be the downfall of women’s careers in journalism as they can affect the quality of their work not to mention their liaison with contemporaries.
Areas such as child rearing attribute to what Gaye Tuchman describes as being women’s ‘symbolic annihilation’ in journalism. Men who risk their lives reporting on events, such as war and humanitarian crisis’s, stand to lose less than women. When women journalists are killed during action, children are always taken into consideration and the company they work for takes a blow by appearing to be seemingly unfazed by the matter.
Tuchman has also stated that “Journalists… usually deny that overt sexism leads to the gendered nature of news. They claim instead that the maleness of the news content is an unconscious reflection of the fact that few women occupy positions of responsibility.” However as it stands, women represent 13% of chief executive officers in media, so this point may not be entirely representative of the current situation.
Many news deals go on in areas where females have no access. Urinals, the golf course and men’s clubs are all familiar places for business deals (this includes: ‘who gets what story’) to take place and are virtually impenetrable by women. Likewise the idea of drinking into the early hours of the morning is an unfathomable task for women to be expected to take part in. This ads to women’s oppression in the workplace and worsens their chances of gaining respect and being taken seriously as they are left with the ‘consumer-based’ stories, that everybody else turned down.
We often see anchors on the news as falling into an ageing stereotype. News readers tend to consist of one older male (usually quite aged) paired off with a young, attractive female. We can take from this, the assumption that men do not have an ‘expiry date’ based on their age when it comes to reporting the news, whereas women tend to move into other areas of the media once they hit
Women do not only have deal with hostility from male co-workers but if they succeed in breaking through the boundaries of male dominance they are often antagonised and resented by their female colleagues.
According to a study carried out by the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) the number of women holding senior positions in the media has dropped in the last year. The EHRC has stated that women now face a ‘concrete ceiling not a glass one’.
Adie, along with other female journalists (such as Seline Scott, Moira Stuart and Anna Ford) has pointed out her disapproval of corporations such as the BBC who appear to be both sexist and ageist in their choices of who they choose to cover news stories. Sometimes to see how sexist and ageist the media industry is being we have to ask ourselves questions like this one (proposed by Joan Bakewell): “But where today are the wrinkly female equivalents of Trevor McDonald and Peter Sissons, Nick Owen and Jon Snow?”
We can conclude therefore that while women may wish to insist that their gender is irrelevant to the ways in which they are sanctioned to, and the ways they actually do their job, it is evident that the newsroom is still a male dominated environment which oppresses women and refrains them from progressing through the ranks in their careers. “’Women’s journalism’ was considered inferior to other forms of mainstream journalism” – this statement is taking from a report dealing with the situation of women’s journalism in 1940, but it could just as easily have been taken from an article this week. In the mainstream, women must (for the time being) suffice with delivering consumer based news beats and hope that an equality of stories will feature in the near future and the sexism that currently exists will be discontinued, so they can enhance their careers. It remains to be seen how the tightening of the gender pay gap will affect women in this industry. Perhaps editors will look for reporters with better qualifications and judge them not on their sex but based on their skills.
In terms of changes over the last number of years however, it appears that women’s position, although it has transformed somewhat (in that, it is more accepting of the sex, even if it does not grant them good beats), a lot more change is desirable. Women need to gain confidence and respect in this industry but this growth comes hand-in-hand with being given better news stories. As the following quote suggests, “…in terms of the important information, the news pages, women are not ordinarily present… News is a man’s world.” – News still belongs very much so, to the man.
There appears to be a direct correlation between an incline in women being given jobs in journalism and political movements taking place (whether this be the feminist civil rights struggle in the 1970s or the downfall of the Taliban’s anarchist regime).
Bibliography:
Books Used:
“Women and Journalism” – Deborah Chambers, Linda Steiner, Carole Fleming (2004)
“Gender, Race, and Class in Media” – Gail Dines, Jean M. Humez
“Sex & Money: Feminism and Political Economy in the Media” – Meehan and Riordan
“Women & Media: A Critical Introduction” – Carolyn M. Byerly and Karen Ross
“Whose News? The Media and Women’s Issues” – Joseph Sharma
Websites Used:
Other:
Week 3 Lecture Notes and PowerPoint Presentation
Word Count:
2,
“SOB SISTERS: THE IMAGE OF THE FEMALE JOURNALIST IN POPULAR CULTURE” – Joe Saltzman (2003)
“SOB SISTERS: THE IMAGE OF THE FEMALE JOURNALIST IN POPULAR CULTURE” – Joe Saltzman (2003)
“Women and Journalism” – Deborah Chambers, Linda Steiner, Carole Fleming (2004)
“Women and Journalism” – Deborah Chambers, Linda Steiner, Carole Fleming (2004)
“The News of Women and The Work of Men” Gaye Tuchman et al., (eds) (1978).