What Has And Hasn't Changed For Women In The Media Over The Last 20 Years

UN Highlights Lack Of Equality For Women In Worldwide News

Rosie the Riveter

Twenty years after 189 countries committed to improving the status of women in the media, the United Nations has found some improvements, but little overall change.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Beijing World Conference on Women, at which representatives from 189 countries committed to a blueprint for new global policy empowering women, known as the Declaration and Platform for Action. The Platform identified “12 critical areas of concern” for women worldwide, including the media.

In 1995, the delegates argued that the media helped perpetuate “gender-based stereotyping,” and demanded that the “continued projection of negative and degrading images of women in media” be changed. Signatories committed to promoting “women's full and equal participation in the media” at all levels, from management to on-air talent, as well as promoting “balanced and diverse portrayals of women.”

Two decades later, the UN has found that there “has been some progress since the Beijing Conference.” Notably, “The percentage of stories reported by women has edged up in most issue areas.” Women are also highly active on social media, an important force in the media landscape.

However, women are still far from equal in global media. Based on recent data from 108 countries, the UN released an infographic noting that on print, radio, and television news, men still dominate both news organizations and the stories those organizations report on:

UN Infographic On Gender Diversity In News

The UN also noted that while social media has become “a sounding horn for the feminist movement,” it can also be dangerous for women. According to their data, 26 percent of women aged 18-24 “have been stalked online; 25% were targets of online sexual harassment.”

Media Matters research confirms that the inequality women face in global news media is a still reality in the United States. As we recently reported, white men now host all of the Sunday morning political talk shows on CNN and broadcast news, giving them a key platform to set the media and political agenda for the rest of the week.

White men also make the large majority of guest appearances. A 2013 Media Matters analysis found that gender diversity on these shows was practically unchanged over the previous five years -- and the numbers are much worse for women of color. This trend has continued since:

Female experts are also often missing from crucial media debates. In one Media Matters study, women's health experts made up only 4 percent of guests brought on to cable news to discuss key abortion legislation. Another study found that women made up only 28 percent of cable news economic guests over the course of a year. And when it comes to discussing national security and foreign affairs, women made up less than a quarter of guests in one year.

As the UN noted, many of these problems stem from newsrooms that are not diverse. Last year, when Jill Abramson was ousted from her role as Executive Editor at the New York Times, it meant that none of the ten largest U.S. papers were led by women anymore.

The UN is now asking signatories from the Beijing Conference to recommit to their goals from 20 years ago, noting that “even a cursory look at media content shows how far there is to go”:

Women have an equal right to participate in public debate, including in the media, and offer insights and ideas that must be heard. Everyone deserves to live free from the burden of harmful gender stereotypes.

The media shapes our world -- but so do women, as powerful agents of change in all areas of society. It is time for media to reflect this reality.