Women are visible as news presenters, but only make up 20% of the actual news

Zurich, March 7, 2023. Although quotas have been established officially or unofficially in the studios of many TV stations, this largely only applies to news presenters. When it comes to content, the balance is still disappointing:

The share of women in reporting is clearly below 30 percent everywhere, regardless of county or network. In the last ten years, there has been a slight increase here and there, especially in German and Swiss news, but it is minimal.

In the main news programs in the U.S. and U.K., stories featuring female protagonists are centered around “society in general” vs. economics, business, or politics. Sports are also very visible, but this rate of visibility is not commensurate with the level of success women’s teams have had in these countries (e.g., the U.S. women’s soccer team).

What is standard in sport is also still editorial reality for all other topics: When interview partners, expert assessments or protagonists are chosen for reports to depict the realities in hospitals, doctors’ officers, kindergartens, schools, or universities or to explain political or economic developments, for more than ten years men have been in the vast majority in terms  of portrayal.

“All this leads, among other things, to the demand for equal pay remaining just that, a demand and not reality, since advertising revenues are primarily determined by media presence,” explains Roland Schatz, Managing Editor-in-Chief, one day before World Women's Day.