Nozipho Dlamini
4 May 2007
A gender audit by the SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) and Gender Links has found that white, male journalists are paid more and hold more top positions in South Africa's newsrooms, while black women are furthest down the ladder.
The audit was released on Thursday 3 May to coincide with World Press Freedom Day.
The report, entitled "The Glass Ceiling Two: An Audit of Women and Men in South Africa Newsrooms", found that women in general earn 20% less than men, while black women tend to earn 25% less than white men and account for a mere 6% of newsroom top and senior management.
The report found that there were considerable differences between the nine media houses surveyed - representing over half of all newsroom employees in the country - with some having a majority women in senior management and others none at all.
The nine media houses surveyed include SABC, the Citizen, Kaya FM, Media 24, Primedia, the South African Press Association, the Independent group of newspapers, Johncom and the Mail and Guardian.
The survey involved administering a factual questionnaire between September and December 2006.
"While there are now roughly equal numbers of women and men in South African newsrooms, women, and especially black women, are still scarce in senior and top management echelons, as well as in the hard news beats," the report found.
Gender Links executive director Colleen Lowe Morna said these statistics were quite stark. "Women are still under-represented in decision making. There's a big catching up to do," she said.
The report said Kaya FM and Primedia had 70% women compared with the Citizen at 30%. The SABC, Mail and Guardian and Media24 were close to achieving gender parity, the report noted.
Kaya FM was found to have achieved 100% women in top management while SAPA had none.
Media24 had equal numbers of male and female employees, the Citizen and Johncom less than 20% female employees and Primedia had 78%.
The study builds on the qualitative study released by Sanef in August 2006 by providing quantitative information on where women are located within the hierarchy and work of newsrooms.
The study also analysed conditions of service and employment practices that have a bearing on gender disparities in newsrooms.
Source: BuaNews
