It's no secret that the media industry is typically dominated by men. For years there has been discussion about women dominating journalism schools but not the actual field of journalism. A 2017 article by Catherine York stated "Since the 1970s, most American industries have demonstrated an upward trend in female employment. Journalism is flatlining." Why is this?
It's been noted that at many universities across the country, Journalism majors are majority female. Northwestern University Journalism professor Margret Sullivan said “I’ve often wondered is journalism going to become majority-female," after noticing that her classes have become majority-female. She went on to say “But that doesn’t seem to be happening and I don’t know why that is.”
Perhaps the problem is that journalism is still not viewed as a profession that is acceptable for women. The hours are difficult. It's a hard career to be in when you're starting a family. Perhaps the problem is that women are often driven into job positions where they are only reporting "soft news," making it hard for women to gain as much respect as some of the men that have come before them.
For women to be taken seriously as journalists they first have to be taken seriously as consumers of news. Linda Steiner discusses the history of journalism saying "By the end of the 19th century, educated, middle-class women saw journalism as a meaningful vocation. It was more glamorous than teaching and nursing, the paid domains typically open to women. Even more women managed to get journalism jobs when publishers needed to attract women for their advertisers, especially department stores and consumer products, including national brands. The popularity of women’s magazines proved that women were desirable consumers."
She goes on to talk about how women were often put on stories that men would have little interest in both reporting and reading. Stories regarding "domestic life, fashion, beauty, household tips, or society news." Editors wanted women to be buying Newspapers and Magazines, but still didn't expect them to read hard news.
Around the 1960's and 1970's women started to create their own periodicals. These periodicals were important because they were focusing less on making money and more on "producing journalism in innovative ways consistent with feminist theory," They were challenging the ideas put out by mainstream newspapers run by men. As Steiner says "The alternative periodicals of the 1970s and 1980s contested the mainstream news media images of a highly aspirational, self-assertive woman who “can have it all,” with “all” including a perfect husband, successful children, high-paid career, beautiful home, and stylish clothes. Women’s alternative news media addressed women as citizens rather than as consumers, offered robust critiques of the ideological underpinnings of conventional gender roles, and, as one slogan famously noted, made “the personal political.”
Since then, we have made great strides. We have began to put cracks in the glass ceiling, but we are far from breaking it. There are many reasons why we still have such a long way to go. One of the main reasons is because journalism is a dangerous field. Reporting hard news, specifically war reporting, often involves putting yourself in a lot of danger
"Women war reporters face a high risk of sexual harassment and rape. A survey of 29 women reporters found that more than half reported sexual harassment while on assignment (Matloff, 2007). Many have been raped. But correspondents who have been sexually attacked—often in combat zones—rarely tell anyone, whether as a matter of embarrassment, compulsion to remain part of the macho club, or most likely, fear of being pulled off an assignment. The risks of kidnapping, serious injury, and death are stressors for both men and women; both suffer very high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and self-medication through alcohol (Feinstein & Sinyor, 2009)."
Regardless of what some say, I believe that this field will become more female dominated. I believe this because technology is constantly changing, which is changing journalism and how we consume news. I believe this will create sort of a blank slate where the rules that men have created will be erased.
Melanie Sill, the first female executive editor of the News & Observer in Raleigh, says "Digital platforms without an established hierarchy and culture like many traditional newsrooms are offering flexibility and mobility for women and minorities." I believe that to shatter the glass ceiling we need to shatter journalism as we know it. We need to make newsrooms a place where all voices are heard at the same volume, and we need to make news a conversation that everyone is invited to.