To strengthen the dialogue and ensure more media coverage on gender and economy, a workshop was organized with media personnel across India and Bangladesh asking them to share on what are the parities, what are the policies and how can we have more visibility on the issues of women and employment of women. Participants and speakers comprised independent journalists, social media influencers, representatives from national media networks, press club, government department, non-governmental organizations, media development organizations, feminist organizations, academia, digital news agencies and other media professionals. The workshop explored the barriers to creating gender- sensitive and gender-transformative content, and encourage a solution-based conversation towards creating gender equality in content, workplace, and management.
How is Gender Represented in the Media?
Women represent only 13% of subjects and sources in
the television newscast monitored and 21% in the digital news stories and
tweets (coded from Al Jazeera, BBC News -World, CNN International, France 24,
Reuters, RT News, TeleSur and @nytimes.) The proportion of women as subjects and sources in economy and business
news in media indicated 12% for India, 21% for Bangladesh and 26% for Nepal. Stories
on gender-based violence (GBV) hardly make the major news of the day and when
they do, women and girls are severely underrepresented as subjects and sources. In 2020 a new
category ‘gender & related’ was carved out to filter three types of
stories: on sexual harassment against women, rape, sexual assault, #MeToo,
#TimesUp; on other forms of gender violence such as feminicide, trafficking of
girls, women FGM; and, on inequality between women and men such as the gender
pay gap. It was disappointing to find only 1% of stories coded under this new
major topic in both legacy and digital media, yet, various sources indicated
that gender violence has intensified during the pandemic. In leadership positions in the media, across
print, television and digital, the average women representation is about 20%
and this number seems dismal when compared with the population of women in
India being about 48% (as per Global Gender Gap Report 2021).
What News is Portrayed More?
As shared by the Chief
of News Bureau of a leading media agency, “in order to cater to the demand of
delivering ‘eye-catching’ stories to the mass, gender issues occupy a very
small proportion in media content prioritization. This results in bringing out
women stories that mainly revolve around crime.” She shared
about the 3Cs that media primarily design stories around – Crisis, Crime and
Controversy. She went on to share that in newspapers, crime related stories get
a higher priority for being reported and that reportage of cases for instance the
Nirbhaya rape case and Hathras gang rape and murder case is treated as a crime
based story, the stories do not highlight gender (in)equality aspect. The media
focuses on eye-catching stories and if a story is gender based but not eye-catching
enough, although it gets reported in the media but such stories are assigned to
Page 9 space where it does not get much importance.
Another media personnel shared that gender related
stories need to be pitched in a way to acquire space in the newspaper. She
related about an incident where the PM was scheduled for a visit as a chief
guest to a reputed university as part of its Centenary celebration. The media
personnel was a guest faculty at the university and she had noticed that there
was no washroom for the girls of the Mass Communication Department. The nearest
washroom was at a distance of 40 minutes which resulted in the girls missing an
entire class. The media personnel faced resistance by fellow colleagues on
reporting such a story about a reputed university where the Prime Minister was
expected to visit. She shared that for seeking approval to cover this story she
had to convince the others to write the story as an open letter to the Chief
Minister on behalf of the girls.
The bureau chief of a news agency accepted that the
media primarily sticks to stereotypical stories related to gender like crimes
related to women, ones that deal with male bastions, or when they are doing
something really extraordinary, or on special days for instance International
Women’s Day.
As
shared by a senior journalist and social activist, the biggest challenge in
digital media space lies in its requisite of generating revenue through page
views, likes and reactions. The algorithm caters to what is in more demand,
eye-catching and entertaining. News is made sensational to attract attention. So
it is about prioritizing whether we want ‘likes’ or gender-responsive
journalism. Political news, crime, entertainment and sensational news
respectively is the desired order of preference in mainstream journalism. She
referred to examples of women in political parties who are active social media
users, yet indulge primarily in smear campaigns. She mentioned about Tina Dabi,
Joint Secretary of Finance Department of Rajasthan and a brilliant young IAS
officer whose story has been doing the rounds on social media not for her
unparalleled achievements but her second marriage. She went on to stress on how
media heavily relies on eye-catching headlines that only bolster existing
prejudices and mindsets in the society.
Popular as India’s
exclusive rural content creator, she emphasized on the meager coverage of gender
issues on social media. She mentioned that there are over 380 million active
social media users in India but the content that this huge lot engages in, majorly
covers entertainment, travel, food and politics. Only 3.2% of the content deals
with social issues and even slighter in gender. The Global Media Monitoring
Project (GMMP) 2020 Report of India also suggests similar findings, that across all forms of media, the Gender and Related category received
low coverage, i.e., below 7%.
Efforts to Strengthen Media Coverage on Gender and Economy
We have all seen how media ranging from traditional to online media
hugely influences our perceptions and ideas about the role of girls and women
in our society. Yet women remain underrepresented in newsroom leadership,
gender equality stories are going untold and men remain the vast majority of
quoted experts and panelists.
There are numerous efforts by various organizations,
there are success stories, but these are not very visible. On April 1 2022,
around 25 media professionals across India and Bangladesh came together in a workshop
“Missing Perspectives: Gender Equity in Media Space” at the American Center,
Kolkata as part of the initiative “Women Wielding the Workplace” and discussed
how gender specific news gets less attention and how there is low participation
of women in media, making it a place primarily for the men. The workshop aimed
to augment visibility to the urgency of achieving gender diversity and equity
at work, sharing of inputs and
recommendations by media representatives
and other stakeholders on increase in coverage of gender and economy in media.
Mr Adrian Pratt, Public Affairs Officer, US
Consulate opened the discussion with the remark that he strongly believes in
the transformative role each of the media participants can play by creating
gender sensitive and gender transformative content, by challenging traditional,
social and cultural norms and attitudes, by showcasing women in leadership
roles and experts on a diversity of topics on a regular basis and not just as
an exception. This will not be possible without the concerted efforts of both
men and women. We need voices to advocate for equal pay, equal sharing of
unpaid care work, prevention of sexual harassment and all forms of violence,
health care service that responds to their needs, equal participation in
political, life and decision making.
Is there Gender Parity in the Media?
A
leading media professional talked about how existing gender stereotypes in the
recruitment process spurned her from securing a job at a vernacular daily. She
shared about her journey 23 years back when she was called for an interview at
a vernacular daily and the agency was shocked to find a lady instead of a man.
The name that she used, the agency assumed that it would be a man and they
expected to see a male candidate for the role resulting in her being rejected
by the agency.
A participant shared about her experience in the
course of her work with a news agency where she was assigned the responsibility
to reduce the staff drastically. She was informed that she could only retain 1
reporter, 1 camera person and 1 production person. She came under tremendous
criticism as she had retained all female employees only because they were the
best of the lot. She goes on share that “Inclusion is not about choosing people for the sake
of it, but recognizing the strength of an individual regardless of their
gender.”
With
an experience of more than 40 years in celebrated national and regional
dailies, a participant shared about her uphill struggle from being a freelance
reporter to the Chief of News Bureau. When she applied to a news agency for a
job, she was refused on the grounds that there is no washroom. She was hired by
another media agency to deliver the same kind of work which other male
reporters do to the extent of covering riots, disasters etc. She was happy to
note that this situation is changing slowly and that women are taking
leadership to deliver the same kind of work as male journalists be it in news
channels, newspapers, in reporting, sports, layout, desk and decision making.
Does the Reporter’s Gender Matter for Gender Integration in stories?
A
special correspondent from one of a leading media conglomerate shared about her
journey as a journalist during coverage of a political clash story where she
visited a shelter home that had many women and children in it. Their homes were
burned down during the clash. She found that the women and girls in the shelter
home did not move from one place to another because they did not have cloth or
sanitary napkins to use during menstruation. She mentioned that the
administration provided relief materials to the victims but they were not aware
that sanitary hygiene is essential to women in these situations. When she tried
to speak to her male bosses about reporting on the issue of sanitary napkins in
the current situation, they were shocked and to hear this and considered it as
nasty, sexist content and unacceptable reporting in the daily and feared facing
criticism from the masses. Thankfully, one of her other male boss supported and
encouraged her to cover the story. She mentioned that when the story was
published, there was a huge response and the local administration realized and
considered this an eye opener for them. They shared that although they were
providing relief materials but they did not understand the need until this
report. Her perspective and reporting on the political clash using a gender
lens triggered the state’s concern to provide relief provisions for women and
girls. In spite of facing resistance, it turned out to be a landmark reporting!
The
bureau chief of a news agency shared that one of the major problems identified
in low media coverage of issues on women and economy has been the lack of women
as sources in the news. She explained this sharing an instance that during the
time of the elections in her region, she wanted to quote a woman official from
the assembly or from the election commission; however, there were hardly any
women there. So she had to take the quote from a male source.
Another
media personnel shared that one of the
leading digital publications was able to be earn phenomenal dividends from the
kind of stories that were being covered, in the way they were being covered
with women leading the campaign for coverage of stories.
A media
professional shared that during the time of the pandemic, when the mode of work
was “work from home” for most people, certain problems were faced mostly by
women, one being paid work, second being unpaid work corresponding to household
work and the third included assisting children with their online education.
Some women belonging to a different socio-economic background also faced
harassment by their male partners. She believed that these issues needed to be
highlighted in the media. At the time of the pandemic, the focus of media was
more on the matter of not having access to ambulance, not getting oxygen
cylinders timely, problem of getting admission in hospital even problems in
accessing online education but not the problem women face during this time to
do the “work from home.” When she spoke to her bosses that she wants to write
about this, they told her that this is a soft topic, it is a Page 4 Op-ed story.
She shared that this kind of mindset in the media house needs change.
One of the media
personnel, shared about her experience during training on gender sensitive and
gender responsive journalism in Bihar with young media journalists. She
mentioned that she displayed a story with a headline that read “Father of 5
daughters met with a road accident.” She mentioned that the headline and story had
a very insensitive gender approach to it. One of the male student journalists
agreed with the headline saying that it would generate sympathy and support for
the family and the deceased’s family may also be able to acquire some funds that
would aid in taking care of the daughters. She mentioned that such headlines
and gender imbalanced picture reinforces
and perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes existing in society.
Award-winning,
radio and TV journalist, columnist and public speaker and founder of a media
company emphasized on the need for women to become independent storytellers. She
mentioned about a young Afghan lady who joined as an intern and was new to
digital journalism. She shared that the lady trained herself with the help of
another colleague and the aesthetics and sensibility that she brought into
supporting pictures for the stories was phenomenal. The media personnel shared
the story of the first Adivasi journalist, Jayanti Buruda from the Koya tribe
in Serpally, Odisha who has not only fought innumerable battles to make her own
path but has been a changemaker in the media space covering uncommon stories
like Japanese encephalitis that killed many children in her community which
none of the mainstream media covered. Positive stories, platforms and news
houses were shared like Khabar Lahariya and Adivasi Lives Matters that have
been working to amplify voices of women and marginalized sections of the
society. BehanBox, a women-led organization has been working towards
transformative journalism. As part of Behan Box, one of the women is a village
person herself and she brings a beautiful voice where she started the Fursat
Project. Her argument is that women do not have leisure time. She has called
for pictures and digital images of women relaxing in a rural setting.The media
personnel also shared about the story and work of a Dalit woman journalist, who
comes from very difficult conditions was also shared where she serves in Gaon
Connection, India’s first rural digital platform. The journalist during her
visit to the Moosahar community being one of the most backward communities in
Uttar Pradesh that is ostracized and they do not have access to government
schemes; she came across a severely malnourished 12 year old girl and shared
about her in a tweet that went viral. The district administration was forced to
take cognition and shift the girl a hospital. She also shared about a transperson
radio journalist from Bangalore who is bringing fresh new perspectives to the
table sharing lived experiences. She mentioned that women journalists i can
thrive in this ecosystem by not being in competition as how the media model
works but by being collaborators of stories on gender and economy.
Founder
of a communication for social change organization; shared about the recent work
of her organization with young girls and women in urban slums on fostering
digital media and information literacy. She narrated an incident of a woman
whose son asked her not to wear headphones and go around the colony as his
friends were telling him that his mother is too forward and that it is not good
for her. She pointed out (through this story) that there are male members
within the family police how women should consume media, what they should talk
about when making media. While there are positive stories of young women
journalists from difficult conditions who are making a mark for themselves, one
has to also relook at what is the structure and architecture that is
reinforcing this gendered nature of both media and technology. Why would media
tell stories for which they would not get advertisements, whose stories get
told, who tells those stories and how they are being consumed needs to be
rethought.
Gender Responsive Policies
As shared by one of the media veterans, she
mentioned about the conducive policies in place in a leading media house, that
includes policies on zero tolerance of sexual harassment, safety in the
workplace, security in transport and also recruitment of women camera persons,
editors that helped in making women feel safe at the workplace. She also talked
about a new term popular in TV studios, manels
(men-only panels) as by and large women occupy a minimal space as less as only
15% in panel discussions. We can collectively crack the glass ceiling if
discussions on gender participation and diversity in the media are brought into
the mainstream.
Nudging the Glass Ceiling Upwards:
Another
journalist shared about her media house wherein majority of the resident
editors are women. She emphasized that in terms of achieving gender parity in
the media space, even though change is slow but constant. She referred to
certain photo journalists who have been breaking the glass ceiling in the
industry. She believes more women should be occupying policy-making positions
and that one’s gender whether male, female or if they identify as a member of
the LGBTQ+ community, must not determine their capacity or role and not be
bereft of opportunities to narrate stories.
President of the Press Club
shared about the utmost need of positive storytelling in media. In his session,
'Ensuring Inclusion', he referred to fellow female journalists present at the
dialogue who have established themselves as powerful and distinguished figures
in the media space and are potent sources of inspiration.
The workshop highlighted that
media (social media/print/electronic) needs to be more gender-sensitized, there
is a need to change the male-centric perception towards women employees in the
newsroom and appropriate policy guidelines need to be developed for media to
reflect on gender sensitive issues and strengthen media networks across South
Asia to implement gender affirmative behaviour in the workplace.
6th Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) 2021 report
Author : Leonea Myers
Comments
Post a Comment