The Representation of

Women in News
 LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lecture; students should be able
to:
 Understand the gendered nature of journalism as
a profession
 Evaluate the portrayal of women in news
globally and in Southern Africa
 Discuss how the media perpetuates stereotypes
about women
 Explain the gendered culture of journalism
 INTRODUCTION
 The Southern Africa Gender
and Media Progress Study
(GMPS), 2015 observes that
globally, women constitute a
mere 24% of news sources
globally.
 In Africa, women constituted
only 22% of news sources.
 BUT as “formal” or legislated
discrimination against women
falls away, the major challenge
now is how to change mind-sets
hardened by centuries of
socialisation and cemented by
custom, culture and religion.
 The media is seen as having a
major role to play in changing
mindsets, but it is often part of
the problem
 INTRODUCTION CNTD

News should ideally reflect reality, however, countless

studies argue that news presents a consistently more male
–dominated view of society than exists in actuality.

So we ask:

 What makes something newsworthy?

 How are women represented in the news?
 Do female journalists tell different stories compared to
their male colleagues?
 Researchers argue that it is not only the small
numbers of women in news that is cause for
concern, but it is also the ways in which women
are portrayed when they do become
‘newsworthy’.
 One consistent finding is that most news about
women focuses on their physical appearance –
 Often editors cannot print a story without some
evaluation of her attractiveness, or at least a
description of her age and colour.
“while men are speakers to the reader, women tend
to be gazed at by readers”
 GENDER, POLITICS AND NEWS
 In recent years, research has focused on how women who
have made it into public office are treated by the media,
when compared to their male counterparts
 The results are not encouraging. Female counterparts
receive significantly less coverage than their male
colleagues.
 Even when they are covered, their portrayal tends to
focus on their age, marital status, have their physical
appearance picked apart and tend to be addressed by their
first name contrary to portrayal of their male
counterparts.
COMMON PATTERNS OF
REPRESENTATION OF
WOMEN IN NEWS
 FOCUSING ON WOMEN’S DOMESTIC LIFE
 Female candidates are often asked
whether they can “juggle” their
political responsibilities with their role
as a mother.

 For example, as USA Today wrote in

2014, “It’s unclear how Chelsea’s
pregnancy will affect Hillary Clinton,
who is considering a race for
president in 2016”.
ATTACHING THEM TO
POWERFUL MEN
 A common bias is to emphasise the “connections” that women must
need to get themselves into politics.
 Women in power, and those seeking public office, are often portrayed as
the inexpert delegates of influential men.
 DISCUSSING THEIR LOOKS
 The media judges women’s physical
appearance, paying obsessive
attention to their clothing, makeup,
and hairstyles.
 Hillary Clinton once sarcastically
commented that if she wants to get on
the front page, all she has to do is
change her hair.
 SAYING THEY GET
‘EMOTIONAL’
 The media frequently questions
the stability of female
politicians, based on the
stereotype that women are
creatures of emotion.
REPRESENTATIO
N OF WOMEN IN
NEWS -
SOUTHERN
AFRICA
 The 2015 GMPS analysed whether
SADC news media equitably
represents men and men.

 14 countries were monitored in the

study, including Eswatini.

 The study found that none of the

countries were found to have
reached even one-third women
sources; which was a target that
media activists had hoped for at the
signing of the SADC Gender
Protocol.
  This is a cause for concern given that
Sources by sex overall women form the majority in Southern
Africa at 52%, however, the news does
not mirror this reality.
 It is important to investigate the
proportion of women in news  The study also found that journalists in
because it suggests the extent to the region continue to produce single
which society gives voice to source stories at 67%, rather than the
women. basic rule of at least two sources per
stories.
 The 2015 GMPS found that women  This is not only a weak journalist
remained under-represented as news practice, but translates to fewer women’s
sources in news media, constituting voices.
20% of sources in the 14 countries
monitored.
 Journalists historically have accessed men
 Men accounted for 80% of news
more often, likely because they continue
sources. to dominate in decision making positions
 Sources in public, private and
community media
 Women working for public media
accessed more women voices at 24%
when compared to private and
community media. Funded from public
monies, thus such statistics are
concerning.

 In community media, women make up

21% of the sources. Community media
is the closest to the people, thus must
give access to all segments including
ordinary women
 Private media, mostly driven by
business imperatives, access the lowest
portion of women sources at 18%
WHO SPEAKS ON
WHAT?
 These findings show that across all
regions, men’s voices continue to
dominate in all topic categories.
 Men continue to be the voice of
authority even on matters that
affect mostly women.
 Gender-based violence and HIV
and AIDS represent two of the
issues where there is differential
impact on women and men, yet
men make up the majority of those
accessed as sources by journalists
 The highest proportion of women
sources are health, HIV and AIDS,
celebrity, social and climate change
categories. Yet even in these
categories, women constitute
30%or less of those whose views
and voices are heard.
 When monitored by medium, TV
has the highest portion of women
sources at 25%, followed by print
(20%) and then radio (18%).
 When it comes to images, women
tend to be seen rather than heard.
While they make up 20% of all
sources in print media, they appear
more in print images.
 FUNCTION OF SOURCES
 Results of GMPS, 2015 suggest that function of sources follows roles of
women in society
 A majority of men speak as government officials at 87% and 84% of men
speak as experts and/or commentators.

 Women are proportionally better represented as ordinary people relating

personal experience (32%) or as eyewitnesses (29%).

 While media give women space to relay personal experiences, this

constitutes a subtle stereotype in that it places women in the “soft”
category of news.
PERPETUATING
STEREOTYPES
 Harmful gender stereotypes are evident in the region. For example:

 In Zambia, an article making reference to chaos in society as being a

direct result of women’s dress codes

 Women as prostitutes – references to revealing dresses, and scandalous

forms of dress
 Celebrating beauty - women are not born beautiful but have to learn
how to look beautiful.
THE GENDERED
CULTURE OF
JOURNALISM
 Having noted the common portrayal of women in
news, we will now discuss the production of news
and the culture of journalism
 Historically, like other media professions,
journalism has been very male dominated.
 Although this has changed drastically, we still see
persistent evidence of horizontal and vertical
segregation
 Horizontal segregation – how media industries and different roles
within them are divided along gender lines, with women
concentrated in low status parts of the industry (local papers and
women’s magazines) and in particular types of roles
(administration & support)
 Vertical segregation – means even when men and women are in the
same general field (TV production or Broadcasting/ media policy
formulation), women tend to be concentrated at lower points in
the hierarchy, while men dominate senior management
Issues such as the pay gap e.g.:
 2018's highest-paid actress, Scarlett Johansson, made $198.5
million less than the highest-paid actor, George Clooney
‘Occupational resegregation’ - Women moving into previously male –dominated
fields BUT experience decreases status and erosion of pay (Writers; directors;
studio execs; editors); Women less likely to have children, to be married etc. due to
sacrifices for careers – NOT FOR MEN
 This is particularly due to culture of media work, journalism included
 Journalists’ professional ideology requires them to be available 24 hrs/day
 Travel anywhere at a moment’s notice
 In some countries, some news organisations have little to no maternity leave and stories
are told of women who have been fired while on maternity leave, although this is illegal
 “Old boy” patterns of employment
 Initiation rites in newsrooms
 Double standards- be one of the lads AND use feminine wiles to get the story
THE SELECTION AND HIERARCHY
OF THE NEWS
Increased employment of women within senior and creative
positions is an important goal in its own right BUT
From a point of view of portrayals of gender, a key question
is: what difference- if any- do women in the industry make
to the kinds of representations that we see, hear, and read
every day?
We ask: Does employing more women lead to better
representations of women, as many implicitly assume?
Do women produce news that is feminist- or even just
feminine?
 Many journalists and commentators answer ‘yes’ to this
question.
 It is argued that women tell stories that would otherwise
be ignored, that they have different ethical values from
men that are evident in their reporting & that they are
particularly concerned to look at the human effects on
the stories they cover (e.g. crime or unemployment)
 Also, consider the significance of ideology and the
market
 The people who succeed in the media tend to be those
who take on the ideologies and professional values of
those news media organisations. They are professionally
socialised in a variety of formal and informal ways to
think, write, produce, or direct in a particular manner,
which invariably reflects the views of the dominant
culture
 Our conceptions of what constitutes news or what makes
good TV are shot through assumptions about gender,
‘race’, class, geography etc.
 Add this to conservatism of the market for cultural
products = more of the same
 REFERENCES
Carter C., Gill B & Stuart A. (2002), News, Gender and Power,
London: Routledge.
Buikema, R., Plate L & Thiele K. (2018), Doing Gender in Media,
Art and Culture: A Comprehensive Guide to Gender Studies.
London: Routledge.
Carter, C., Steiner, L., & McLaughlin, L. (Eds.). (2013). The
Routledge companion to media & gender. Routledge.
The Conversation. Five ways the media hurts female politicians —
and how journalists everywhere can do better. Available:
https://theconversation.com/five-ways-the-media-hurts-female-politi
cians-and-how-journalists-everywhere-can-do-better-70771
. Accessed: 09/08/2021
Knowles, D. (2015). I was shocked how media portrayed me:
Michelle Obama. Available:https://www.independent.ie/world-
news/americas/i-was-shocked-how-media-portrayed-me-michelle-
obama-31211388.html. Accessed: 09/08/2021