EIGE reports on gender equality in decision-making in media organisations

Advancing gender equality in decision-making in media organisations, EIGE Report

 

On 21 June 2013, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) published a report entitled "Women and the Media - Advancing gender equality in decision-making in media organisations". EIGE is a European agency based in Vilnius which supports the EU and its Member States in their efforts to promote gender equality, to fight discrimination based on sex and to raise awareness about gender equality issues.

EIGE’s report for the Irish Presidency addresses the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in media by analysing the proportion of women and men in decision-making posts in media organisations, both public and private, and the existence of internal policies to promote gender equality in organisations. The first EU level indicators to measure the progress of gender equality in media are introduced and presented in the report.

• Indicator 1: Proportion of women and men in decision-making posts in media organisations in the EU,

• Indicator 2: Proportion of women and men on the boards of media organisations in the EU,

• Indicator 3: Policies to promote gender equality in media organisations.

The findings show that while women have considerably outnumbered men in university-level and practice-based journalism programmes and that the employment of women in media is increasing, the organisational culture of media remains largely masculine and women are still significantly under-represented at the decision-making level. Women hold only 22 % of strategic decision-making posts in the public media and only 12 % in the private media organisations in the EU-27.

With specific regard to regulatory authorities, table 2.1. on page 36 lists the number of women and men on the boards of 44 independent media regulatory authorities in the EU-27 and Croatia.
One of the recommendations of the report for the national level is to:

"Encourage national media regulatory bodies to develop and implement specific policies on gender equality".

Based on the report, a set of Conclusions on the issue of “Women and the Media: Advancing their roles as decision-makers” was adopted at The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) Council on 20 June 2013.

Concerning regulatory authorities, the Council conclusions state that:
"The Council of the European Union calls the Member States and the European Commission in accordance with their respective competencies, while fully respecting the freedom of the press and the right to freedom of expression, to:
(...)

26.  Encourage, as appropriate, the regulatory bodies for the media, be they statutory or self-regulatory, to adopt a proactive approach to the promotion of gender equality within their organisations, including through the development, where necessary, of codes of conduct and guidelines, so as to foster gender equality and promote the advancement of women within the sector".

 

• EIGE’s Report: Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in the EU Member States: Women and the Media - Advancing gender equality in decision-making in media organisations

• EU Council's Conclusions of 24 June 2013 "Advancing Women’s Roles as Decision-makers in the Media", adopted within the framework of the review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, with particular reference to critical area of concern "J: Women and the Media" (11470/13)

Source: EIGE Website