‘Media's symbolic annihilation of women must be stopped'

“I think that there is no single answer to this dilemma,” Carolyn M Byerly, of the US, principal investigator for the International Women's Media Federation (IWMF) said, when asked by Bizcommunity.com at the end of her presentation titled ‘The Longer View: Reflecting on Media Activism'.

“Contribute to parity”

“Increasing the number of women in media, changing policies and increasing public funding for media and the inclusion by media companies of gender policies and mechanisms to put them in place might help solve the problem and contribute to parity in media,” Byerly said.

But, not everyone agrees with Byerly. Some male media practitioners interviewed by Bizcommunity.com, who declined to be named, said that many media organisations are reluctant to employ female journalists due to certain ‘technical factors'.

“Media is tough job and it is not for sissies,” one of them said. “I am not a sexist or a conservative person as I would like to see gender parity in media, but I am just concerned about the not-so mentally tough attitude of our female colleagues who often fail to get it right all the times.”

Byerly rebuked that attitude, saying: “It is not something new in our society. Everywhere in the world, there is still a lot of negative and pessimistic attitudes to see gender equality prevail.

“General prejudice exists”

“General prejudice exists all over the place and this is something that will never be solved in our lifetime. We, as artisans of this historical process of self-determination, need to prepare our children to carry on with fighting for change.

“And we have to lead the way and do it with conviction and passion. Media people are a symbol of enlightenment and my view about social change is that it has to start with people who are there who will build on what they already have. But it is a long and complex struggle.”

Established in 1990 and based in Washington DC, IWMF is a global network of individuals and groups - including SA Gender Links, which is one of its partners. IWMF's goal is to strengthen the role of women in news media as a means to further freedom of press around the world.

IWMF is about to undertake a project called ‘Global Report on Women's Status in News Media, which will focus on 50 - 60 countries (one-third of them from Africa), and document the levels of involvement by women in the news media at professional, decision-making and governance levels.

Furthermore, Byerly also said that the low or almost non-existent level of women's media ownership around the world is a very big concern and must be dealt with.

Women's ownership in mainstream media

While women's ownership in mainstream media is almost unheard of in SA - the Big Four's tigers are mostly men - Byerly said that in the US, women's media ownership, especially in broadcasting, has systematically declined in the past few years.

“Women's ownership currently accounts for only 5 - 6% in the US, as women owners have sold out all their shares to large companies. This is a very serious concern. We should also look at media ownership, not only media employment.”

For more information, go to www.iwmf.org and www.genderlinks.org.za.