Invisible in the media.

• Author: Gross, Liza
• Position: Portrayal and representation of women in global media

Back in the eighteenth century, the Anglo Irish philosopher George Berkeley summarized his theory of "immaterialism" in the following dictum: to be is to be perceived.

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It is safe to assume that the gender problematic was the furthest consideration from the good bishop's mind when he came up with this insight, but his philosophical epiphany aptly describes the plight of women worldwide when it comes to media coverage: they are either absent from the news, and so cannot be perceived since they are not there, or they are included within certain narrow parameters that limit a full perception of their societal contribution. This state of affairs varies globally, but in general women and girls are seldom featured in journalism as narrators of their own experience or as authoritative sources on any given topic. In addition, whenever they are featured, it is in stereotypical roles.

A few years ago, I spent a considerable amount of time in various countries conducting journalism training. My co-instructor and I always ran a quick content audit of the local newspapers before launching our workshops: we would go through an edition and count the number of pages until we came across a photograph of a woman illustrating a story. Editors typically group what they consider the most important and meaty stories in the front section. it was not at all uncommon to thumb through this entire section and not find a single female image. There were plenty of pictures of males standing behind microphones or behind desks in positions that suggested power and control. No women. Television was worse. Youth and good looks were a prerequisite to stand in front of the camera. Where were the mature and experienced female reporters? The presence of females as authoritative voices was also lacking in the science, financial and sports copy. My co-instructor and I still recall with amazement a story about women and breast cancer that included not one female source--neither patient nor doctor; the only individuals interviewed were male physicians.

Matters have improved somewhat since those days. Still, a study of African media released in February 2009 by the International Women's Media Foundation in preparation for training in reporting on women and agriculture, showed that women were almost invisible in African media. The assessment found that just 11 per cent of the sources were women, and that women were the focal point of just...