Women Under-represented in Media, Report Shows

NEW YORK (UMNS) -- Victims of violence and power, child care workers, homemakers, students and celebrities -- that is how the news media most often portrays women.

Those insights come from a recent report on the Feb. 1 global media-monitoring project in which volunteers in more than 70 countries looked at how women are portrayed and represented in the news.

Members of United Methodist Women (UMW) represented the only monitoring group for the United States, and their efforts helped forge a preliminary report that incorporates more than 50,000 data records. The project results evaluate the news reporting positions of women, the occupations or positions of women interviewees and the type of stories that focus on women.

Looking at worldwide newspaper, television, and radio news, the final report from the World Association of Christian Communication (WACC) will be issued in November.

Within the United States, monitors looked at more than 2,700 television, radio and newspaper reports. Around the world, though women account for 41 percent of the people who present and report the world's news, they only account for 18 percent of the news subjects.

UMW began monitoring the media in 1976, when its efforts prompted the publication of Sex Role Stereotyping in Prime Time Television.

"By taking part in this monitoring, United Methodist women have shown their global cooperation and solidarity by working with more than 70 countries," said Glory Dharmaraj, executive secretary for justice education with the Women's Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. The Women's Division is the administrative arm of United Methodist Women, a million-member organization.

"As change agents who believe that there is neither male or female in God's eyes, this project is a measuring tool to assess and work for the fair and accurate representation of women in the media," she explained. "The media influences our thought and culture, so the role of women is extremely important to monitor. By addressing stereotypes, we can help to create more democratic and gender-sensitive media practices."

Though women and children are often the victims of war and political violence, they are not interviewed in these crises, according to the preliminary report. Male reporters predominantly report on these issues, whereas female reporters predominantly report on "soft" news such as the environment, health and education.

"If more and more women reporters cover war and politics, the culture of war and politics may change," Dharmaraj said. "War may not be pictured as a place of triumphant use of sophisticated weapons, but as a brutal force that kills and maims humanity."

Women are most often interviewed as homemakers, students or celebrities, according to the report. Eighty-eight percent or more of the time, reporters turn to men for interviews on technology, business law, government, politics, religion and police/military issues.

The media monitoring study looked at 17 issues that might arise in stories with women as a central focus. Some of the issues included violence, power, changing roles, birth control, sexual orientation, child care, work and health. Within these issues, women appeared most often in stories that focused on violence and power.

"Women are still the targets of violence and media coverage of violence grabs the immediate attention of viewers," Dharmaraj said. "Seldom do we see major coverage of how women are engaged in peace work and building a nonviolent world."

Once WACC releases the final report of the media-monitoring project, Dharmaraj will write a study guide from the Christian faith perspective to accompany it.