Year: 2011

Gender Check 4/6/11 – Northeast

Joy BaconLeave a comment
*Gender Checks are quick examinations of gender representation in individual news articles for the purpose of discovering trends over time. Click here to read more.

Website: The New York Times

On The New York Times, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 10 p.m. EST on Wednesday, April 6 was titled “Obama Meeting Leaders From Congress on Stalemate.” Its subject was the pending shut down of the federal government over budget conflicts.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male – President of the United States

2. Male – Speaker of the House

3. Male – U.S. senator

4. Male – U.S. senator

Notes/analysis: This story is lead news across several news organizations this week. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the first female speaker of the house, and women currently hold 17 Senate seats and 76 seats in the House of Representatives.

Website: ProPublica

On ProPublica, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 10 p.m. EST on Wednesday, April 6 was titled “Charter Schools Outsource Education to Management Firms, With Mixed Results.” Its subject was a lawsuit in progress against a private education firm running various charter schools.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male – company board member

2. Male – attorney

3. Male – education professor

4. Male – attorney

5. Male – education consultant

6. Male – education professor

7. Male – charter school board member

8. Male – attorney

Notes/Analysis: While women make up over 60 percent of the teaching force in the United States, they hold only 30 percent of administrator positions and still fewer school board seats, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.


New study: Women hold less than one-third of top news media jobs

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

A new global study released in March revealed that women currently hold 27 percent of top management jobs and 26 percent of governing jobs in the news media.

"The Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media"

“The Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media” was put together by the International Women’s Media Foundation. It was released March 23 at the foundation’s International Women Media Leader’s Conference. The extensive study looked at roughly 170,000 people in more than 500 companies and nearly 60 countries.

The report is a 396-page PDF document available in full online. It provides breakdowns from seven geographical regions as well as findings from individual nations.

This first-time study was conducted over a two-year period with an aim to provide detailed data on gender positions in new organizations worldwide.

The study looked at information on occupational standings, salaries, terms of employment and a variety of other issues that affect gender status. The study looked only at traditional media including newspapers, television and radio stations, with newspapers making up almost half of the sample.

The study’s key finding was that 73 percent of the top management jobs were occupied by men, compared to women at 27 percent. Twenty out of 59 nations studied had identifiable “glass ceilings” for women in middle and upper management.

The report points out in the executive summary that a 1995 study by Margaret Gallagher showed women in only 12 percent of the management positions in 239 nations.

In positions that actually produce the news, the study found that women hold 36 percent of reporter jobs, or positions at the “junior professional level.” Interestingly the senior professional level, which includes anchors, senior writers and producers, has more parity with women in 41 percent of positions.

Those findings match other studies that have looked simply at bylines. “Who Makes the News? Global Media Monitoring Project 2010” also found similar results when it looked at authorship of articles culled on a given day in 2009. Overall, 37 percent of stories in the whole sample were reported by women.

A closer look at the United States

In the summary of the findings from the United States, the report shows that across the news media women make up 41 percent of the total work force. The study included 14 U.S. news companies, 10 of which were newspapers. They in total employed approximately 3,000 people.

In the U.S. portion of the study, women made up 23.3 percent of those in top-level management and 35.3 percent of those in governance. The study shows women at near parity with men at the junior professional level, or reporter positions, at 47.2 percent but not as close at the senior professional level at 35.7 percent.

It also identified a “glass ceiling” for women in U.S. newsrooms once they reach the senior management level. After that their presence drops from 41.5 percent to the 23.3 percent at the top-level management.

Coverage in the news

A number of news and industry sources picked up on the survey and reported and commented on it. Here are a few:

For more studies and resources on gender in the news media, view our “Useful Resources” page.

Gender check: 4/5/11 – West

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

*Gender Checks are quick examinations of gender representation in individual news articles for the purpose of discovering trends over time. Click here to read more.

Website: Seattle Times

On the Seattle Times, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 12:15 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, April 5, was titled “Southwest 737 fuselage ruptured in unlikely place.” Its subject was a look at fuselage issues like that found in the Southwest aircraft that had to take an emergency landing Friday after an in-flight rupture.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, expert on metal-aircraft structures and retired engineer

2. Male, airline spokesman

3. Male, National Transportation Safety Board member

4. Male, company president

5. Male, transportation secretary

Notes/analysis: No female sources in this week’s article.


Website: Seattle P-I

On the Seattle P-I, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 12:15 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, April 5, was titled “State keeps list of where DUI suspects say they drank.” Its subject was a look at the “Worst Offenders List,” a list of places where DUI suspects claim to have had their latest drink.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Female, State Liquor Control Board spokeswoman

Notes/analysis: The article mostly cites information from the database. Also, the Seattle P-I has a different look this week. Apparent redesign?

Gender Check 4/1/11 – South

Joy BaconLeave a comment
*Gender Checks are quick examinations of gender representation in individual news articles for the purpose of discovering trends over time. Click here to read more.

Website: The Miami Herald

On the Miami Herald, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 9:30 a.m. (EST) on Friday, April 1 was titled “WWII Soldier Receives Bronze Medal – 66 Years After Heroic Rescue.” Its subject was an award to a soldier for his efforts in Luxembourg during the war.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male – honored veteran

2. Female – wife of veteran

3. Female – daughter of veteran

4. Male – presenter of award

Notes/analysis:

Website: Patch (Seminole Heights)

On Patch of Seminole Heights, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 9:30 a.m. (EST) on Friday, April 1 was titled “Viewfinder: The Swap Shop.” Its subject was a feature on a local clothing market.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Unknown – vendor

Notes/analysis: This is one of the first Patch stories studied for the Gender Report that had a female byline.

Gender check: 3/31/11 – Midwest

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

*Gender Checks are quick examinations of gender representation in individual news articles for the purpose of discovering trends over time. Click here to read more.

Website: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (stltoday.com)

On Stltoday.com, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 1:15 p.m. (MST) Thursday, March 31, was titled “Judge declares Missouri ethics law unconstitutional.” Its subject was a county judge declaring an ethics law passed by the state legislature the prior year unconstitutional because it covers multiple subjects.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Unknown, official for ethics commission (unnamed)

2. Male, circuit judge

3. Male, county attorney


Website: St. Louis Beacon

On the St. Louis Beacon, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 1:15 p.m. (MST)  Thursday, March 31, was titled “Earnings tax backers stage big effort to get out the vote.” Its subject was efforts to get people out to vote for Prop E, to keep a 1 percent earnings tax as a part of the city’s budget. It currently accounts for one-third of the budget, or $140 million.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, spokesman for campaign for Prop E

2. Male, spokesman for group against

3. Male, spokesman for campaign for Prop A (unnamed)

4. Female, spokeswoman for male businessman (unnamed)

5. Female, spokeswoman for male mayor (unnamed)

6. Male, spokesman for female comptroller

Notes/analysis: This article was heavily reliant on spokespeople for organizations or individuals. It’s interesting to note that those who spoke for individuals were always of the opposite gender of the person they spoke on behalf. Both spokeswomen were unnamed, as was one of four spokesmen.