Editor’s note: Our findings through our monitoring projects have served to identify and bring attention to the fact that women’s voices are missing, but have left us with more questions than answers. That’s why we’re taking our project a step further by starting a discussion on why this is the case and what can be done about it. This is part of a series of posts each week aiming to start a discussion on gender representations in online news. View past “Report Your Thoughts” discussions here.
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Question 4: What’s the solution?
Now that we’ve discussed (mostly via the Twitter hashtag #GRdiscuss) the reasons why women are absent as sources and authors of the news as well as why it matters that women are included, we’d like to shift the focus to how we can effect change in this area.
So, what’s the solution? Women make up a quarter or less of news sources and slightly over a third of news authors. What are some ways to increase the percentage of women included as news sources and increase the number of female reporters in the newsroom and with lead bylines?
Share your thoughts in the comment section as well as on Twitter with the hashtag #GRdiscuss or on our Facebook page.
Update: Discussion of this week’s question so far as mostly taken place on Twitter with the #GRdiscuss hashtag.
Here are some snapshots of the discussion:
The Gender Report 