News media, in its varied forms, is a fundamental part of modern society, and reflects and reinforces existing ideas within society. Therefore, the representation of women within the news media is crucial in analysing the position of women in society today, and attempting to improve it. New Zealand is a country which prides itself on being egalitarian, and was the first country in the world to give women the vote. Unfortunately, over the past 20 years, New Zealand’s media representation of women has not improved, while other countries have. New Zealand’s unique culture creates both advantages and difficulties for gender equality within the media. Sports play a huge part in New Zealand’s culture, and although progress has been made in female
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The Global Media Monitoring project is one of the first steps in this direction, and is a study which analyses how women are portrayed in news media around the world, and advocates for change. This study helps to analyse issues surrounding the representation of women, and the causes behind it. For media industries to act decisively to help accomplish gender equality, it is essential that there is transparency surrounding the causes and effects of the representation of women in news media, allowing them to create effective policies moving forward. “Criticism of media content creates a lack of trust and interest on the part of media professionals. Interaction and dialogue between gender specialists and media professionals is the only way forward” (Turley, 2006). To initiate a dialogue about the relationship between the gender and the media, a comprehensive resource on the reality of representation today in crucial. The GMMP has worked to achieve this, and around the world dialogue has been opened, and government and media companies have begun to implement the approaches that the study suggests, which is hopefully a step towards better representation of women within the …show more content…
There is a range of hypotheses on why women do not reach the higher positions within journalism, despite entering journalism training in greater numbers than men. One thought is that the media industry feels like an ‘old boys club’ with men holding all the positions of power, and promoting those who reflect them and their interests. A potential solution to this is to encourage mentoring between senior female journalists and new entrants to the profession. By encouraging women who have achieved success within journalism to help bring younger women up behind them, it may normalise the idea of women on positions of power. Another aspect of journalism which has the potential to hinder women’s career prospects is job flexibility. Women remain the primary caregivers in many families, and as such require a greater flexibility in work than is currently available within journalism (McGregor, 2006). This forces women to choose between their careers and their family, and choice men rarely need to make. By encouraging greater emphasis on flexibility and work life balance within journalism, women will have a greater potential to reach higher positions within news media, and consequently better shape the news
The Global Media Monitoring project is one of the first steps in this direction, and is a study which analyses how women are portrayed in news media around the world, and advocates for change. This study helps to analyse issues surrounding the representation of women, and the causes behind it. For media industries to act decisively to help accomplish gender equality, it is essential that there is transparency surrounding the causes and effects of the representation of women in news media, allowing them to create effective policies moving forward. “Criticism of media content creates a lack of trust and interest on the part of media professionals. Interaction and dialogue between gender specialists and media professionals is the only way forward” (Turley, 2006). To initiate a dialogue about the relationship between the gender and the media, a comprehensive resource on the reality of representation today in crucial. The GMMP has worked to achieve this, and around the world dialogue has been opened, and government and media companies have begun to implement the approaches that the study suggests, which is hopefully a step towards better representation of women within the …show more content…
There is a range of hypotheses on why women do not reach the higher positions within journalism, despite entering journalism training in greater numbers than men. One thought is that the media industry feels like an ‘old boys club’ with men holding all the positions of power, and promoting those who reflect them and their interests. A potential solution to this is to encourage mentoring between senior female journalists and new entrants to the profession. By encouraging women who have achieved success within journalism to help bring younger women up behind them, it may normalise the idea of women on positions of power. Another aspect of journalism which has the potential to hinder women’s career prospects is job flexibility. Women remain the primary caregivers in many families, and as such require a greater flexibility in work than is currently available within journalism (McGregor, 2006). This forces women to choose between their careers and their family, and choice men rarely need to make. By encouraging greater emphasis on flexibility and work life balance within journalism, women will have a greater potential to reach higher positions within news media, and consequently better shape the news