International Delegates Chart Roadmap to Improve Gender Equity in Media
Photo by Kelly Carr
Delegate Margo Smit, director of the Dutch Flemish Association of Investigative Journalists, (VVOJ) said, “Many of us have been saying during this conference that we need more role models. We can never say that again.” |
Empowered women media executives from around the world
rallied in Washington last week for the International Women Media
Leaders Conference, pledging to elevate the working environment for
women in newsrooms around the world.
In every region of the world, these women news leaders will be working
to “level the playing field” in the media. They left the four-day
conference after meeting in closed door sessions to discuss pressing
issues in their countries. |
Regional delegates made these pledges to elevate the working environment for women in:
--North America: Create a cross-platform executive-level coalition with an emphasis on salary transparency and negotiation.
-- Asia and Oceana: Improve gender equity policies in news organizations.
--Latin America: Improve labor policies; create a career path and mentoring programs.
-- Middle East and North Africa: Increase research on the value of women in news operations.
-- Eastern Europe: Provide management training in newsrooms.
--Nordic Europe/Western Europe: Focus on social network outreach for training and increase coverage of women issues.
-- Sub-Saharan Africa: Promote career advancement and create networks across platforms for mentoring using models from other countries.
At the conference, organizers unveiled a groundbreaking “Global Report on the Status Women in the News Media” examining more than 500 companies in nearly 60 countries shows that men occupy the vast majority of the management jobs and news-gathering positions in most nations included in this study. The International Women’s Media Foundation commissioned the study to closely examine gender equity in the news media around the world. The IWMF and George Washington University’s Global Media Institute partnered on the conference.