Media dominates our lives and strongly influences our views and opinions. Therefore it matters how we include and portray men and women in the media. With this in mind it’s somewhat shocking to read the preliminary report of the 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project released on March 2nd.
Among the key findings are:
- 24% of the people interviewed, heard, seen or read about in mainstream broadcast and print news are female; only 16% of all stories focus specifically on women.
- Women have achieved near parity as givers of popular opinion in news stories. But less than one out of every five experts interviewed is female, and men predominate strongly as eyewitnesses and providers of personal experience in news stories.
- Almost one half (48%) of all news stories reinforce gender stereotypes, while 8% of news stories challenge gender stereotypes. Women in the news are identified by their familial relationships (wife, mother, daughter) five times more often than men.
- Overall, news stories by female reporters are much fewer than news stories by male reporters.
- News stories by female reporters have considerably more female news subjects than stories by male reporters and challenge gender stereotypes almost twice as often as stories by male reporters.
The study reveals overall that women remain grossly underrepresented in news coverage in contrast to men, resulting in news that reinforces sex role stereotypes and often portrays women as invisible.
This report needs to be taken seriously by media managers. I have cut and pasted the key findings above and sent e-mails to the following media managers, asking what they intend to do to report more gender balanced and gender responsive news. If you feel strongly about this it would be great if you could contact your local media and do the same. Let’s not just moan about this situation – let’s do something about it.
online.editor@timesonline.co.uk
The feminization of the work force gives us an opportunity to create work environments that value a balance between what men and women bring to the table. But it does require women to step up to the plate, be courageous and take some risks.
It’s not news that we still have a gender pay gap – men are still earning more than women doing similar or equivalent jobs. One creative way that women might put their earnings on a par with men is to make different career choices. Perhaps it’s time to be more intentional about invading well-paid jobs that are traditionally held by men.
I read so much about the difficulties women encounter in the workplace that sometimes I feel we spend too much time highlighting the problems and not enough time proposing positive action to improve situations. I was heartened, therefore, to discover the measures underway in the U.K. to close the gender pay gap.
A new study from Catalyst, a research organization that promotes women’s advancement, provides pretty gloomy reading. In 
Anything that helps get more women into the C-suite in organizations is very welcome. It matters who makes decisions at the top of organizations and governments, and at the moment the decision-making of the old vanguard is not inspiring a lot of confidence. 
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has made gender equality an express goal of their organization. The percentage of women athletes at this year’s Winter Games in Vancouver was around 40 percent, up from roughly 25 percent in the early 1990’s. Nevertheless, women ski jumpers failed in their attempt at inclusion in the 2010 event and were roundly criticized by the IOC for taking them to court over it. 
A 
We all know, simply from the low numbers of women in positions of senior leadership in organizations, that it’s generally more difficult for women to succeed to the top of organizations. This week, 
Women Still On The Wrong Path
Article from the Toronto Star
March 13, 2010
Donna Nebenzahl
Earlier this week, we marked International Women’s Day, celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women around the world.
What has been a snail’s pace record on every level is no less so in Canada, where recent reports show dismal progress for women aspiring to make a mark in the corporate world.
Two new studies from the Catalyst Foundation have indicated that gains remain minimal for women in this country with leadership potential; in every instance they are under-represented despite their qualifications and expertise.
Equality, it seems, is not on the agenda in corporate boardrooms. Findings this week from 2009 Catalyst Census: Financial Post 500 Women Board Directors, showed that women hold 14 per cent of director positions in the FP500, an increase of only one percentage point in two years. The study also showed that nearly 45 per cent of public companies have no female board directors at all.
“In 2010, the argument that companies can’t find women to sit on boards simply doesn’t work,” said Deborah Gillis, Catalyst vice-president, North America. “Catalyst research shows that looking beyond company heads – 21 women currently lead FP500 companies – to the broader corporate officer pool expands by more than 30 times the number of qualified women available for board service.”
This ongoing lack of momentum, despite the studies indicating a strong correlation between women’s representation on boards and better financial performance, might have dire consequences. Gillis believes Canadian companies risk losing qualified women to multinationals now looking for female board members.
But the fractured playing field doesn’t exist only in Canada. Last month, Catalyst reported, as part of a study of thousands of women and men MBAs around the world, that women lag behind men in both job level and salary starting from their first position post-business school – and do not catch up.
The study showed that the common excuses of parenthood and level of aspiration did not explain the results; the findings held when considering women and men without children as well as those who aspired to senior leadership positions.
“The `Give it time,’ reasoning has run its course,” commented Ilene Lang, Catalyst president and CEO. “In a world where women comprise 40 per cent of the global workforce and are earning advanced and professional degrees in record numbers, gender inequity is a waste.”
Lang’s comments prompted another type of study, this one by international executive consultant Lynn Harris.
Founder of Harris, a Montreal-based leadership development consultancy, she had read an article several years ago in which Lang had once again criticized the dearth of women in leadership.
“I couldn’t believe we couldn’t answer the questions, so I started to research it,” Harris said. “As I suspected, it wasn’t that difficult to answer.”
The result is her recently published book Unwritten Rules: What Women Need to Know About Leading in Today’s Organizations.
After years working in the leadership field, Harris had come to realize the argument around women not having the right stuff to make it is a myth, but sexual stereotyping is alive and well.
“Senior leaders are expected to be competitive and assertive, but when a woman behaves that way she’s labelled a bitch. Assertive is aggressive for a woman.”
One unwritten rule is that senior leaders are expected to be available anytime and anywhere, to spend more than 10 hours daily in an office, to be geographically mobile.
“Everyone will recognize that,” she said, but women often don’t want to do that. They’re also expected, like men, to have a linear career path, in which their careers rev up when they’re in their 30s. But often, women need to have career break at that time, to have their children.
There are two ways of handling this, Harris says. “You could look at changing the playing field, at creating organizations and leaders like in Norway, where there are mechanisms in organizations that allow women to have a career break and come back without having their career path shattered.”
Then there’s the other way, in which women must develop “personal influencing skills,” the ability to promote themselves and mentoring, Harris says.
“They have to understand their environment in order to make real choices about their career.”
Finally, Harris examines the tough choices a woman must make in order to be a senior leader.
Once that first choice is made, some secondary ones will follow that may not be so pleasant, she cautions.
“The key message here is to consciously make clear choices, rather than be a victim of your circumstances.”
donnanebenzahl@videotron.ca