Despite some advances and several pockets of shattered glass, men still largely dominate media newsrooms.
This, according to a report, “Status of Women in News Media,” set to be released on Wednesday by the International Women’s Media Foundation.
The study — comprised of more than 500 companies in nearly 60 countries, accounting for more than 170,000 employees — found that 73 percent of the top management jobs are occupied by men, and just 27 percent by women.
Among reporters, just 36 percent are women, according to the study.
The report will be unveiled at the International Women Media Leader’s Conference in Washington, and the 75 female media executives expected to attend the conference are supposed to vote on a plan to “level the playing field” on Friday.
The study did find a few slivers of equality hope: among senior newsroom professionals, “women are nearing parity with 41 percent of the news-gathering, editing and writing jobs.”
Breaking it down by region, there’s a higher representation of women in top management jobs in Eastern Europe (43 percent) compared to other parts of the world. In the “Asia and Oceana” region, for instance, women account for “barely 13 percent” of those in senior management positions.
There are a few individual countries where women dominate men in the ranks of top media jobs. In South Africa, for instance, 8 in 10 senior management positions are held by women.
In Lithuania, women dominate the reporting ranks of junior and senior professional levels (78.5 percent and 70.6 percent, respectively).
Click here to read the full report.
[Photo of Glamour editor Cindi Leive, via Glamour]
