Women remain under-represented in Media

According to the, Women's Media Center which released its annual report on the state of women in the nation's newsrooms, radio stations, and film sets. The good news: In 2011, women held 40.5 percent of newspaper jobs, compared to the 36.6 percent they occupied in 2010. (Women's representation at American newspapers had hovered below the 40 percent mark for more than a decade). The bad news: By almost every other measure, media remains overwhelmingly male, and not looking any better any time soon. Last year, women made up only 22 percent of the local radio workforce, compared to 29.2 percent in 2010. Women's representation in sports news hasn't budged since 2008 (just 11 percent of editors, 10 percent of columnists, and 7 percent of reporters are women). In one year, women dropped from 20 percent of behind-the-scenes entertainment television roles to just 4 percent. Worldwide, women are the subjects of 24 percent of news stories. Just 21 percent of Sunday morning television commentators are women. Only a third of speaking characters in films are female (and about a quarter of them are dressed sexily). Women direct 5 percent of films. And it's not for lack of talent or enthusiasm: Women make up 73 percent of journalism and mass communication graduates. The Women's Media Center's data charts the chronic underrepresentation of women behind the camera, on the page, and in newsrooms back to 1998 (really, it goes back forever). But the sheer endurance of male overrepresentation in the media begets its own narrative: It does not necessarily get better. And even when it does, it doesn't always stay that way. Gender equality in the media takes attention, work, and vigilance. It requires us to confront an uncomfortable truth: If we are all truly hiring the best person for the job, it means that we think that men are better. Women are the majority and make-up roughly 51% of Americans. So it would seem issues of women representing anything should not be relegated as fringe issues, but should be recognized as helping a majority of the people in our country. Systematic oppression and patriarchy is a force hard to break through. Even a woman’s basic rights to control what they do with their own bodies are debated in Congress everyday by rich 50-60 year old men. Unfortunately for women: as long as mainstream media remains controlled by “The Good Old Boys Network,” not much good news for women. By Lorraine Johnson, Financial Analyst, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and member of Pasadena Leadership Circle