“If you don’t have gender equality in your newsroom, it’s like running on one leg. And in the current climate, the male leg is limping”

The lack of women in leadership in the journalism industry is not an unfamiliar topic. But what are news organizations actually doing about it? And how can other news organizations take on the gender diversity gap, too?

The second annual Women in News summit, hosted in Portugal by WAN-IFRA this week, highlighted depressing (but motivating?) statistics on women’s presence in the media world and the steps that news organizations like Gizmodo and the BBC have been taking to improve their diversity. (WAN-IFRA’s Women in News initiative compiled a handbook on gender diversity in media with 10 case studies from Botswana to the United Kingdom.) Here are some of the main findings discussed at the summit:

TV news shows in UK are edging toward 50/50 on-air gender diversity thnx to movement pioneered by @BBCRosAtkins. Let’s do this in US &elsewhere too #WNC18. @vivian @raju @FrancescaDonner

— Joanne Lipman (@joannelipman) June 6, 2018

When hiring for WikiTribune @OritKopel found that male journos asked for higher salaries, negotiated their offers whereas women just accepted them, and asked for raises more frequently -> can lead to salary gap without employers really realising why #WNC18 #WINSummit18

— Simone Flueckiger (@SimoneFluckiger) June 6, 2018

"Women are outquoted by men by a factor of three to one". Not quoting women perpetuates the idea that men are the best experts @FrancescaDonner at #WNC18

— Steve Dempsey (@steevill) June 6, 2018

I admire the BBC’s 5050 project tracking how many women appear on the news, are quoted, or have bylines. Habit-stacking data tracking in their process has improved representation and become second nature for their teams. #WNC18

— Andrea Lee Bishop (@andrealee_b) June 6, 2018

#WNC18 This @nytimes focus on gender in their storytelling is a good prism. Open software like https://t.co/pA4hJCQPwh are good ways to try build this into your cms for discovery and an ubiquitous newsroom-wide spotlight. https://t.co/9awsXi4Mr2 pic.twitter.com/GZyowSDk1o

— Raju Narisetti (@raju) June 6, 2018

So humbled to hear about different rigorous gender initiatives in media. @FrancescaDonner describing the initiative @nytimes – important to start by defining what is meant by gender. #WNC18 #WINSummit18 pic.twitter.com/p4VJpK7hj9

— Noora Pinjamaa (@noorapinjamaa) June 6, 2018

Gender diversity at JP/Politikens Hus: three-year action plan for every business unit; detailed stats on female representation; surveys of employees on how they perceive possibilities/barriers to become leaders; mentorship programme for female mentees and mentors
#WNC18

— Simone Flueckiger (@SimoneFluckiger) June 6, 2018

“If you don’t have gender equality in your newsroom, it’s like running on one leg. And in the current climate, the male leg is limping” @BarbaraKaija – Group Editor in Chief, Vision Group, Uganda #WomenInNews #WNC18

— Julie Posetti (@julieposetti) June 6, 2018

75% of people quoted on front-page are male @joannelipman #WNC18

— Nick Tjaardstra (@tjaardvark) June 6, 2018

Some lessons from @raju and Gizmodo's diversity initiative: get a baseline snapshot of diversity; resist temptation to aggregate, problem can be at the top, middle or bottom; share data with all staff #WNC18 #WINSummit18

— Simone Flueckiger (@SimoneFluckiger) June 6, 2018

#WNC18 around the world women represent 17% o top managment, and only 25% o experts quoted. This hasn't changed since 1995!

— zuzanna ziomecka (@zziomecka) June 6, 2018