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Working in the Media- a matter of gender?
by Lucinda Noonan

The European Social Fund is funding female student's tuition fees and child care costs for the MA Media Enterprise in an initiative to get more women working in the media.

The media is crucial in reflecting and shaping society's attitudes, so when research indicates that men occupy approximately 75% of powerful positions in the mass media, what does this say about our society? More importantly, how does this influence the messages which shape it?
Television, radio and the Internet are all powerful mediums for the implementation of gender equality and can also reinforce stereotyped images of women. It is a significant problem then, that women's access to control the various forms of media is still limited in most societies.
Research carried out by Professor Martha Lauzen indicates that the biggest difference is made by women who work behind the scenes in the industry, and this can have a significant impact on the ways women are portrayed on screen and in print. Lauzen concludes, "When women have more powerful roles in the making of a movie or TV show, we know that we also get more powerful female characters on-screen, women who are more real and more multi-dimensional."

A highly significant 62% of females have experienced unequal treatment whilst working in the media according to research carried out by the Robert Gordon University. Further findings suggest that many females feel obliged to adopt a more traditional female role in order to survive in the industry and this was felt by both women and men. One male respondent condescendingly noted "There are quite clearly prescribed roles for women in the media and if you fit into one of them you will do well!"

There are indeed significant differences between men and women which present issues of a wider concern in female employment, such as the issue of child care. However, it is the way in which these issues are managed that affect the overall impartiality of an industry. The Robert Gordon University research showed that a significant proportion of companies in the media encountered negative attitudes amongst male employees toward maternity provision. One respondent felt so strongly about the issue that he/she "will not employ women of child bearing age any more".

Although gender equality in the workplace is an issue concerning all employment, equality within the media reflects and shapes the way we perceive a women's role in society. The media can be influential mediators of change but it is apparent here that they can be equally powerful mediators of oppression.

The European Social Fund have noticed this issue as a critical concern and as a result are providing full funding for female student's fees on one of UCE Birmingham's postgraduate courses as part of a national initiative to get more women working in the media.

The course is an MA in Media Enterprise and aims to develop students' entrepreneurial skills for sectors including design, media, graphic design, film and animation. The funding not only covers female students' tuition fees but it also provides funding for child care support and aims to increase the amount of women in entrepreneurial positions within the media.

For more information regarding the MA Media Enterprise course, please email annette.naudin@uce.ac.uk

What UCE Media Students Say ...

"The media has been dominated by men for a long time however; today the need for equality demanded by society has made it a lot easier for women to work in the media industry. On top of this we need to consider that some women might be put off working in the media because it is dominated by men." - Zdravko Medos

"Colleagues don't feel threatened or challenged by me just because I'm a female it's my personality that does the talking. I don't know why so many women are fussed with the statistics. Everyone gets struck down in the media and you shouldn't blame it on whether you're a male or female." - Jessica Lopez