Women still under-represented in news media

According to Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) research, coordinated by the World Association for Christian Communication, women are still significantly underrepresented and misrepresented in news media coverage.

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) was the data analyst for the project, which looked at media coverage in 108 countries. Despite the continued under-representation of women in media identified in these latest results, the project has also seen significant change since it began 15 years ago.

The GMMP monitored 1365 newspapers, television and radio stations and Internet news sites, 17 795 news stories and 38 253 persons in the news in 108 countries with 82% of the world's people.

• 76% of the people heard or read about in the world's news are male and the world seen in news media remains largely a male one
• 24% of people in the news are female, compared to 17% in 1995
• 44% of persons providing popular opinion in news stories are female compared to 34% in 2005
• News media show significant gender bias with 46% of news stories reinforcing gender stereotypes
• 13% of news stories focus centrally on women
• Expert commentary is overwhelmingly male with only one female in every five experts
• Age of women in the news is mentioned twice as often and family status almost four times as often as for men
• Today female reporters are responsible for 37% of stories compared to 28% fifteen years ago, and their stories challenge gender stereotypes twice as often as stories by male reporters

Gender bias in Internet news is similar and in some respects even more intense than that found in the traditional news media.

The 2010 report contains a plan of action for media professionals and others committed to gender-ethical news media.

The GMMP is the largest and longest running research and advocacy initiative on fair and balanced gender representation in the news media. It is coordinated by WACC, a global network of communicators promoting communication for social change, in collaboration with data analyst Media Monitoring Africa, with support from the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Download the report or go to www.whomakesthenews.org for more information.