Last week the Minister for Communications Alex White launched a report by FuJo and the National Women's Council of Ireland on Hearing Women’s Voices? Exploring women’s underrepresentation in current affairs radio programming at peak listening times in Ireland. Funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and written by Dr. Kathy Walsh, Dr. Jane Suiter and Orla O’Connor, the report discusses the nature of female under-representation and makes recommendations on ways to achieve greater gender balance.
The report was compiled by monitoring women’s voices on news and current affairs programmes at peak times on RTÉ Radio 1, Newstalk and Today FM; by observing production practices, and by conducting interviews with key stakeholders at programme and station levels.
Some of the key findings discussed in the report include:
An analysis of the overall breakdown of voices (male and female) and the proportion of time each is heard over the three radio stations examined, shows an overall breakdown of 72% male and 28% female voices.
A focus on guest voices only, also shows higher ratios of male voices.
As the literature suggests, particular topics are gendered in relation to voice representation.
To address gender imbalance, the report makes 13 recommendations for the media and organisations outside the media.
Recommendations at programme level include:
- The appointment of an individual (at programme level) with responsibility for monitoring gender breakdown;
- The incorporation of gender reviews into daily and weekly programme reviews; and
- A target ratio of 40:60 gender inputs specifically in relation to guests and experts.
Recommendations at station level include:
- Adding more female contacts/experts to the overall station contact database;
- Updating the contact details/mobile number for female contacts on the station databases;
- Monitoring gender breakdown across all programmes;
- Setting minimum standards and targets in relation to gender roles across the station; and
- Providing training for potential female guests/experts, with a view to improving the pool of female guests available to the stations.
Recommendations at the BAI level include:
- Making annual reports on gender equality by all BAI licenced stations a requirement;
- Requiring all stations to report on gender equality performance;
- Setting minimum gender quotas for guests/experts of 30:60 over a three year period; and
- Challenging stations and programmes that do not show improvements over time.
Beyond the media, the report recommends that organisations with gender expertise are resourced to provide training to increase the representation of women.
