Sex discrimination commissioner calls for editors to commit to 30% target of female faces on their business pages
Sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick has called on Australia’s business newspapers to commit to a target of featuring a minimum of 30 per cent of women’s voices on their pages by 2015.
The call from Broderick came during a debate on representation of women in business media organised in Melbourne by ANZ bank’s brand journalism arm Blue Notes.
ANZ this week launched its Notable Women project designed to groom the organisation’s female leaders and others in the business community to take a higher profile in the media. ANZ boss Mike Smith is among the business bosses who have pledged to decline invitations to speak at conferences and events unless women are among the speakers.
The launch saw a debate asking the question: Who is more to blame for the lack of women in business media – men or women?”
Business woman Carol Schwartz, who founded the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia, said Australia’s papers are dominated by male editors, mentioning by name Michael Stutchbury of the Australian Financial Review, Chris Mitchell of The Australian and Andrew Holden of The Age.
- Today’s business section of The Australian features photographs of two women and 21 men – a representation of nine per cent.
- Today’s business section of The AFR features nine women and 55 men – a representation of 14 per cent
- Today’s Business Day section of the print edition of The Age features two women and ten men – a 17 per cent representation.
Schwartz added: “TV and radio CEOs are all men.” (Mumbrella notes that an exception is Nova Entertainment boss Cathy O’Connor.)
Schwartz said: “The men are all happy with the status quo. As Jane Fonda said, they just don’t believe there’s a problem. We’re so used to seeing male journalists interviewing male business people, we don’t see there’s a problem.
“The proprietors and owners of these various media channels are not at all concerned about the lack of diversity. If they were, it would change quick-smart.
The AFR’s writer Michael Smith argued during the debate: “We want more women in the AFR, we want more women speaking at our events. I’m just as sick as you are of seeing middle aged men in suits on the pages.
“We just want smart voices. But can we find any? This is the frustrating bit. Part of the problem seems to be women are more modest and probably a little saner than us blokes who have all got huge egos.
“We want them their on merit – not as a token gesture.”
Broderick argued: “Men control the business media. Take corporate spokespeople. Three per cent of women are corporate spokespeople. Who decides who is a corporate spokesperson? That’s male CEOs.
“What good will women leaning in do, if men don’t start to lean out?”
ANZ’s Amanda Gome, a former business journalist and publisher for Fairfax and Private Media, said women in business needed to understand that having a profile was part of leadership. She said: “When the opportunities are offered, you have to take them. You can’t change the game if you don’t show up.”
In a narrow vote, the room narrowly supported the side of the debate that men were most to blame for the situation.
Broderick said of the 30 per cent quota: “When you apply a target, you allow women to come through.
“If you don’t fix everyday sexism, we won’t see women who can speak to the AFR and build their careers.”
And Schwartz warned that social media attacks put some women off from putting their heads above the parapet. She said: “Social media is quite a dangerous space. A number of women journalists say they feel threatened by the trolling they get when they make comments.”
The Australian’s business writer Damon Kitney was among the audience. He told the debate: “It’s a very difficult thing to get high quality women to step up and talk to the newspapers.”
Asked about Broderick’s 30 per cent proposal, the AFR’s Smith said: “It’s a good idea. I’m not the editor, I don’t have the power, but I will pass it on.”
Holden, The Age’s editor-in-chief, said in a short statement: “We report the news and always seek to find the most appropriate sources to quote in our stories.” Stutchbury declined Mumbrella’s invitation to comment, and Mitchell had not responded at the time of posting.
Tim Burrowes
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
Linkedin
Wooo, more mandatory quotas
User ID not verified.
How would a quota achieve anything?
User ID not verified.
“We want them their on merit – not as a token gesture.”
hit the nail on the head
Quotas are by their very nature sexist.
You don’t fight sexism by more sexism
User ID not verified.
Quotas on females and males are wrong. The job should go to the best person for the job, not what gender they are.
User ID not verified.
Even if you’re not in favour of quotas, there is no doubt that they bring into play the ‘black and whiteness’ of a situation. 9%, 14% and 17% in mainstream business media is clearly not proportionate representation, but without someone saying the word “quota”, I doubt anyone would’ve bothered to crunch the numbers.
User ID not verified.
Affirmative action addresses entrenched company behaviours and helps to highlight institutional hiring biases. Watch out guys, it’s not just us women who want a fair go, the gays and non-whites are all out to ruin your boys club too!
Where a company is primarily male-dominated, if two candidates are equally employable, the employer usually favours the one most like themselves. Over time this creates imbalance.
Shout me down all you like, you’re just proving the point that women are often expected to just shut up and hope they get a fair go out of the goodness of men’s hearts.
User ID not verified.
Broderick didn’t call for quotas, she called for voluntary targets. Big difference. And seeing as those of you who are “skeptics” appear to have no idea what this really means, educate yourself before you shoot down a mechanism that even the BCA supports: http://theconversation.com/the.....bias-18876
User ID not verified.
Remember the old saying “What Johnnie says about Mary says more about Johnnie than of Mary”? I was reminded of this proverb when reading Damon Kitney’s comments above. Really? He certainly can’t be looking very hard.
The fact is that businesses owned and operated by women are one of the fastest growing segments in Australia. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there has been a substantial increase in the number of Australian women who run their own businesses (a 21.7% increase since 2000, compared to 8.2% for men). In a 2013 report by Women in Global Business it was found that over a quarter (29%) of women-owned organisations have grown internationally and earn more than 50% of their sales revenue outside of Australia. Further, it was found that there is an increasing number of women in senior decision making roles right here in Australia.
I am lucky enough to be surrounded by talented “high quality” female business leaders as well as those just beginning their business career. 52% of business school students at UNSW are female, 40% of business school academic staff are women and AGSM has averaged around 30% female participation in our full time and part-time MBA programs over the past 5 years.
My congratulations goes to ANZ boss Mike Smith who reportedly declines invitations to speak at conferences and events unless women are among the speakers.
Perhaps Mr Kitney and our declining newspaper industry should look internally and ask why these women are not recognised in the media. What they will see is a dominance of male editors and business writers in Australia. Maybe the only way to achieve Elizabeth Broderick’s goal is to support up and coming female business journalists and the emergence of a new media industry where there is a high proportion of female writers and editors.
What I see is a well-educated pool of smart, innovative women in a wide variety of markets. With a little effort they can be found.
How unfortunate it is that we still have to have this debate.
User ID not verified.
A “target” is a quota by any other name.
User ID not verified.