Women's presence as journalists and subject or source for news is on the decline in India, though the trend in TV media showed preference for more women at work that could be pegged as "sexism at work reinforcing the notions of glamour and fashion", a new study has said.
The sixth edition of the study by the Global Media Monitoring Project, which was carried out in India in partnership with Network of Women in Media in India (NWMI), showed the presence of women in news as subjects and sources "dropped sharply" in the country last year to 14% across print, TV and radio as against 22% in 2010 and 21% in 2015.
Last year, men dominated the coverage as subjects and sources ranging from 68% to 89% across all news categories.
Amplifying the bias against women in news coverage, the study showed that women figured as sources mainly in 'gender and related' category (32%) and least in 'politics and government' category (11%). Even in the gender and related category, men figured more often as subjects and sources (68%).
The other category in which women figured in large numbers is Celebrity, Arts and Media, Sports' (25%) followed by Social and Legal (17%), Crime and Violence (15%) and Science and Health (14%), Economy (12%).
"The fact that more women figured as subjects and sources in the gender and related category indicates that while women are under-represented in news in all categories, they are more likely to appear in news if they are victims of gender-based violence," it said.
Not just as subjects or sources, even the number of women journalists are on the decline. Between 2015 and 2020, there has been a sharp drop in the number of women reporters in print from 43% to 13% and from 60% to 52% in TV. Though radio was not monitored in 2015 for the study, radio had 20% women reporters last year.
Continuing the trend over the last decade, the highest proportion of women as journalists is in TV news. More women (52%) were seen working as reporters, announcers and presenters on TV than in print (13%) or in radio (20%).
"The preference for women of a younger age group in visual media like TV could be hidden sexism at work, reinforcing the notions of glamour and fashion, and attractive young women drawing audiences based on their looks rather than the content of the news," the study said.
If one examines the age profile, older women were featured less in visual media compared to the print. More women (45%) from a younger age group (19-34) were news subjects on TV than in print (38%). In print media, there are 19% female news subjects in the age group of 65-79, and in the 19-34 age group.
According to the study, women news sources continued to be drawn from occupations outside the core of the power structure, such as the entertainment sector and the social work or social activism sector. Only 10% of female news sources were politicians or MPs while 60% were from the celebrity, artist, actor, writer, singer, etc., category.
Activists comprised 36% of women news sources, while 57% belonged to the health workers, social workers and care workers category.
Globally, women’s presence as spokespersons rose to 24% in 2020 from 19% in 2015 while in India, women’s function as spokespersons dropped to 8% in 2020 from 15% in 2015.
"In 2020, female news subjects were found in 18% of the stories, but they were spokespersons and experts in only 8% of the stories. This marks a decline from 2015 across the board – five years ago, women appeared as news subjects in 27% of the stories, as spokespersons in 15% and as experts in 12%," it added.
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