Gender inequalities in society often find an echo in the media, with stereotyped representations of men and women, as well as weak presence of women among the companies’ staff, especially in management positions. Recent research on women’s representation in media content, staffing and management shows worrying trends.
The Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media, published by the International Women’s Media Foundation in 2011, examined more than 500 media companies in 59 countries, showing that “men occup[ied] the vast majority of management jobs and news-gathering positions in most nations”. This research showed that men held 73 percent of top management jobs and 64 percent of reporter positions. Furthermore, the report identified glass ceilings for women in 20 out of 59 countries, more commonly in middle and senior management levels. Women reporters often suffer from discrimination and gender stereotypes within media houses and tend to have little influence on the content of the coverage. Editors with a final say on the content of the news tend to be mostly men and in some contexts reporters struggle to get approval to have their content on gender equality published.[1]
Regarding women’s representation in media content, the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) showed that in 2015 women only accounted for “24% of the persons read, heard about or seen in newspaper, television or radio news”. Among the roles in which people were portrayed in the news, women rarely appeared as experts (19 percent of all experts), spokespersons (20 percent), subjects (26 percent) or eye witnesses (30 percent), and were also under-represented when sharing popular opinions (37 percent) and telling their personal experience (38 percent). Furthermore, the study showed that 16 percent of women appearing in the news were portrayed as victims.[2] The table below, extracted from this research, shows the main findings of the GMMP for the year 2015.
Considering this evidence, “it appears that the media under representation of women’s experiences and voice becomes a powerful actor in the censorship of women, not just an indirect or reluctant messenger nor merely a passive mirror reflecting surrounding society’s values and norms”[3]. Women’s voices are silenced by the media simply because they are women, which undermines the principles of plurality and diversity. Women’s underrepresentation in media content shows that “gender censorship is still a glaring reality in the absence of plural voices.”[4]
LGBTI persons are generally underrepresented in the media too, and they are often portrayed through the lens of diminishing stereotypes. The 2018 Diversity Media Report, monitoring TV news from different Italian channels during the year 2017, concluded that out of the 50.803 analyzed news, only 291 covered LGBTI topics, people or events, accounting for barely 0.57 percent of the total sample. This data shows a minor increase in LGBTI media representation, since during the period going from 2005 to 2014, news related to LGBTI topics, people or events represented in average 0.3 percent of the total sample. The findings of this study also showed that the most common topic in LGBTI news was crime and violence involving members of this community, accounting for 45 percent of registered LGBTI news. Cases of homophobic and transphobic discrimination received limited attention, representing 14 percent of analyzed LGBTI news.[5]
In electoral contexts, the principle of plurality is of paramount importance for media coverage, since the right of citizens to obtain accurate and impartial information implies that all political stakeholders should be able to express their views through the mass media, including women. However, gender-based stereotypes and bias in media coverage affect women politicians and candidates in a negative way, contradicting the principle of equal treatment. Media stereotypes of women in politics contribute to create and support a political culture that excludes them, undermining their actual political participation and representation in decision-making bodies. Their visibility is frequently minimized, as shown by a 2017 Council of Europe report: “women candidates comparatively receive less media attention than their male counterpart”. This study also found that “women politicians receive more attention coverage on their appearance, sex, private life and family life as compared to men” and are often portrayed as weak leaders.[6] Due to the unnecessary attention on private life of female candidates, which male candidates tend not to receive to the same extent, female aspirants may be discouraged from running for the office. This tendency can also be observed in other regional contexts.
Mass media can also have a major role in creating positive public opinion on women’s participation in the political and public life. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the media can “take care to avoid giving negative or minimizing images of women and their determination and capacity to participate in politics, stressing the importance of women’s role in economic and social life and in the development process in general”.[7]
Key electoral stakeholders can take action to promote a gender-sensitive coverage of the electoral process, enhancing inclusiveness and plurality. A wide range of strategies can be used to promote inclusive media coverage.
[1] International Women’s Media Foundation (2011): “Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media.”
See: https://www.iwmf.org/resources/global-report-on-the-status-of-women-in-the-news-media/
[2] Who Makes the News (2015): “Global Media Monitoring Project 2015.”
See: http://whomakesthenews.org/gmmp/gmmp-reports/gmmp-2015-reports
[3] Article 19 (2006): “Gender-based Censorship and the New Media. International Women’s Day”, 8 March 2006.
See: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/gender-based-censorship-and-news-media
[4] Gender Links (2017): “Gender Censorship is a Glaring Reality”, 2 May 2017.
See: http://genderlinks.org.za/pressreleases/gender-censorship-glaring-reality/
[5] Diversity Media Report (2018) See: https://www.osservatorio.it/diversity-media-report-2018/
[6] Council of Europe (2017): “Study on media coverage of elections with a specific focus on gender equality.”
[7] Inter-Parliamentary Union (1994): “Plan Of Action to Correct Present Imbalances In The Participation Of Men And Women In Political Life”, 16 March 1994.
