GENDER INEQUALITY IN INDIAN MEDIA
A Preliminary Analysis
gender inequality in indian media 1 Published in 2019. TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
INTRODUCTION 4
METHODOLOGY 5
RESEARCH LIMITATIONS 7
SECTIONS
English Newspapers 9
Hindi Newspapers 13
English Television News 17
Hindi Television News 21
Digital Media 25
Magazines 29
Radio 33
APPENDIX 34
PROJECT TEAM 36 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Leadership Positions We calculated the representation of women in newsroom leadership positions1. A journalist was defined to hold a leadership position if they were designated editor-in-chief, managing editor, executive editor, bureau chief, or input/output editor. A journalist holding more than one of these positions in the same newsroom wasLEADERSHIP counted only once. The table PROGRAMMES below shows what we found.
Number of Women in Newsroom Leadership Positions
0% 13.6% 20.9% 26.3%
English Newspapers
• Women comprise about 25% of those who write news stories, features, analyses, and opinion pieces, and byline 20.4% of all articles.
• In the top decile of writers by the number of articles published, women’s representation is the highest in The Economic Times (32.7%) and the lowest in The Telegraph (14.3%).
• Women byline 27% of front page articles and just 5.9% of sports stories.
• Women get to contribute more articles on Science and Technology (33.3%), Culture and Entertainment (32.8%), and Public Life (32.6%) than on Sports (6%), Defence and National Security (10.5%), and Politics (19.8%).
• Merely 2.6% of all articles are on gender issues and only 39.6% of these are written by women.
Hindi Newspapers
• Women comprise about 17.1% of those who write news stories, features, analyses, and opinion pieces, and byline 11.1% of all articles.
• In the top decile of writers by the number of articles published, women’s representation is the highest in Amar Ujala (18.9%) while Rajasthan Patrika does not have a single woman in the top decile.
• Women byline just 5% of front page articles and a dismal 2.7% of sports stories.
1 Data not available for CNN News 18 India, Rajya Sabha TV, Navbharat Times and Dainik Bhaskar.
gender inequality in indian media 1 Hindi Newspapers
• Women get to contribute more articles on Environment and Energy (16.9%), International Affairs (15.2%), and Public Life (14.6%) than on Defence and National Security (4%), Crime and Accident (4.7%), and Sports (4.9%).
• Merely 3% of all articles are on issues related to gender and only 34.6% of these are written by women.
English Television News
• Women appear in 15.7% of all flagship debates and comprise 22.4% of the panellists on average.
• Over 53% of the debates feature all-male panels.
• NDTV 24x7 has 29.5% women in the top decile of panellists by TV appearance while Rajya Sabha TV has none.
• Few female panellists are bureaucrats, defence experts, financial experts, or think tank representatives.
• Women make up 34.7% and 29.7% of the panels discussing, respectively, Public Life and Culture and Entertainment. They are absent from panels debating issues related to Science and Technology.
• Only 7.5% of all flagship debates are on gender issues and women comprise 55.6% of the panellists participating in them.
Hindi Television News
• Women appear in just 8.3% of all flagship debates and comprise 9.3% of the panellists on average.
• Over 70% of the debates feature all-male panels.
• NDTV India has 13.9% women in its top decile of panellists by TV appearance while Rajya Sabha TV, India TV, and News18 India have none.
• There is no female panellist who is a bureaucrat, defence expert, financial expert, or a think tank representative.
• Women make up 33.3% of the panels discussing Science and Technology matters but are absent from panels debating issues related to Sports.
• Only 3.2% of all flagship debates are on gender issues and women comprise 47.8% of the panellists participating in them.
gender inequality in indian media 2 Digital Media
• Women comprise 35.4% of the writers and byline 39.8% of all articles.
• The top decile of writers by the number of articles published is entirely female in The Ken while Newslaundry (Hindi) does not have a single woman in the top decile.
• Women contribute more articles than men on State and Policy (58.4%), Crime and Accident (53.5%), Culture and Entertainment (51.3%), and Public Life (50.3%).
• Just 3.7% of all articles discuss gender issues and 63.6% of these are written by women.
Magazines
• Women comprise about 27.1% of the writers and byline 25.8% of all articles.
• The top decile of writers by the number of articles published is entirely female in The Caravan and Femina while Frontline, Tehelka, Outlook (Hindi), and Sarita do not have a single woman in the top decile.
• Women get to contribute many more articles on Culture and Entertainment (42.4%) and Public Life (38.1%) than on Defence and National Security (7.8%), International Affairs (11.1%), and Politics (14.8%).
• Just 7.8% of all articles discuss gender issues and 57.1% of these are written by women.
Radio
• In only two of the 10 cities covered by this study, women outnumber men as radio jockeys across stations.
• In all the cities except Delhi and Kolkata, at least half of Radio Mirchi’s presenters are women. Big FM employs more female than male hosts in Patna and Bhopal, and none in Chandigarh.
gender inequality in indian media 3 INTRODUCTION
The media plays an influential role in modern society. By reporting, framing and interpreting news, it helps mobilise citizens on socio-political issues. Increasingly, people look to the media not only to be informed but to shape their opinions as well. It is, therefore, imperative for the media to reflect in its work and, indeed, workplaces the diversity of its audiences, including gender diversity.
Yet, the media today is largely male-dominated, It is thus the media industry’s responsibility to in India and across the world. Women are often engage with the issue of gender diversity in its assigned to cover ‘soft beats’ such as Lifestyle and work and workspaces. This quantitative study, we Fashion while men predominate in the ‘hard beats’ hope, will offer a foundation for examining the of Politics, Economy, and Sports. Men also occupy issue and furthering its understanding. the majority of the leadership positions. By thus The study sifts through Hindi and English marginalising women’s voices and perspectives, the newspapers, TV channels, news websites, magazines Indian media essentially denies nearly a half of the and radio stations to produce a comprehensive population a chance to influence public opinion. report on women’s representation in the Indian This runs counter to the principles of fairness, media. It shows that women are underrepresented equality, and democracy. across print, broadcast, and digital media. Few Such is the imbalance in power and representation women get to write or speak about the Economy, that it is often men who get to speak even on Sports, Defence, and International Affairs. women’s issues. This only serves to entrench Comparatively more women cover Culture, patriarchal structures and prejudices. As Sandra Entertainment, and Public Life but still far fewer Harding points out, a woman’s perspective cannot than their population demands. be claimed; only after experiencing and being in The report, in sum, provides substantial evidence her social position can an unjust social order be that women continue to be denied their fair share critiqued. of opportunities to shape public opinion in India. Article 15 of the Indian constitution safeguards women against discrimination on the basis of their sex while Article 39(d) secures equal pay for equal work for both men and women. But gender inequality and female underrepresentation persist in almost all spheres of the country’s life. Women’s contribution, whether at home or the workplace, continues to be devalued, and they continue to be underpaid or unpaid. They are also exploited and preyed upon; the MeToo movement last year bared in disturbing detail a culture of sexual harassment and abuse, especially in the entertainment industry and the media.
gender inequality in indian media 4 METHODOLOGY
We used the method of ‘byline count’ to determine the representation of women in print and digital media. Every bylined article was categorised according to the gender of the writer, and the proportion of articles written by women was calculated. The same method is used by researchers elsewhere to study gender diversity in the media. As for broadcast media, the gender of the anchor or debate panellist was deduced from their appearance, and verified against their publicly available profiles.
Platform Selection and English. Although ABP News was among the five top-rated Hindi channels, its debate shows were We analysed news content, published in Hindi and not available online. So, we replaced it with Republic English, across the four platforms of newspapers, Bharat, which was launched in February 2019.We TV channels, news websites, magazines, and radio chose six English and as many Hindi news channels stations. that featured at the top of the annual ratings for 2018 We selected six English and seven Hindi newspapers released by the Broadcast Audience Research Council based on their ranking in the Indian Readership India. These included the state-run Rajya Sabha TV, Survey of 2018 and the availability of online archives. which airs debate shows in both Hindi and English. Although ABP News was among the five top-rated In case of the English newspapers, we used editions Hindi channels, its debate shows were not available from cities where they had the highest circulation or online. So, we replaced it with Republic Bharat, which where they were headquartered. Since most of the was launched in February 2019. Hindi newspapers did not have national editions, we looked at their city editions from various Hindi- We chose six English and as many Hindi news channels speaking states. that featured at the top of the annual ratings for 2018 released by the Broadcast Audience Research Council TV debate shows provide a window onto the agenda- India. We also included the state-run Rajya Sabha TV, setting capacity of broadcast media. Channels which airs debate shows in both Hindi and English. invite ‘panellists’ to discuss the important events Although ABP News was among the five top-rated of the day. They can be spokespersons of political Hindi channels, its debate shows were not available parties or civil society organisations, or individuals online. So, we replaced it with Republic Bharat, which considered ‘subject experts’ or ‘authorities’ on a was launched in February 2019. particular subject. In case of digital media, we picked 11 websites at By analysing the gender composition of TV random based on the availability of their content debate panels, we sought to find out who the on MediaCloud, an open-source software tool for media considered credible opinion makers media analysis. and, simultaneously, who it was that various organisations and political parties saw as their Similarly, we randomly chose a few prominent credible representatives. magazines covering a range of interests without necessarily looking at their readership numbers. We chose six English and as many Hindi news These included a sports weekly, a business channels that featured at the top of the annual publication, and two magazine whose target ratings for 2018 released by the Broadcast Audience audience is women. Research Council India. These included the state-run Rajya Sabha TV, which airs debate shows in both Hindi Five radio channels broadcast in Hindi and English across 10 cities were chosen at random as well.
gender inequality in indian media 5 Content Analysis The articles and debates were categorised under eleven ‘topics’. We tried to keep the topics as We collected data from the front page of each mutually exclusive as possible but it wasn’t always newspaper as well as its opinion, economy and possible. So, occasionally, we used discretion to file sports pages published over a six-month period, an article or a debate under a particular category from October 2018 to March 2019. The data was after considering its content and context. entered manually. The articles and debates were further categorised For Television channels, only their flagship debates as being about gender if ideas, contestations, or were considered. While the English channels aired movements around gender were their central such shows in the prime time slot between 8 pm theme. For example, articles and debates on the and 11 pm during the period of study, some of the issue of women’s entry into Kerala’s Sabarimala Hindi channels did so in the evening slot, from 5 temple, MeToo movement, Transgender Bill, crime pm to 7 pm. The data was collected by watching against women. This category was separated from the debates and entered manually. The selected the 11-topic list as gender issues cut across topics. programmes are listed in the appendix Thus, an article on the MeToo movement was filed Given the volume of their content, the digital under the topic of Crime and Accident and also outlets presented a unique problem. So, we used labelled ‘Article on Gender’. MediaCloud to collect relevant data. In addition, Participants in TV debates were categorised on since these websites published tens of thousands the basis of their professional background – they of articles during the six months of study, we either represented their political groups or official restricted our analysis to a smaller set of writers — positions, or were subject experts – and divided into those with at least five articles to their name. 14 ‘fields’. In case of the magazines, we limited our analysis to the lead story of each issue and the stories highlighted on the cover page. Data Collection The raw data collected from all these archives The writers and panellists were classified as Male, included: Female, and Other. The gender of each writer was 1) Name of the outlet determined from their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Wikipedia profile, or through bios on the website 2) Date of publication or broadcast of their organisation. The gender of each panellist 3) Page title or programme slot was deduced after watching the debate. Care was taken to ensure the writers or panellists who 4) Name and gender of the writer(s) did not identify as male or female were marked 5) Name and gender of the anchor(s) as ‘Other’. Where a person’s gender was neither publicly available nor discernible – for example, 6) Name and gender of the panellist the byline consisted of only the surname – it was Where an article was written by multiple people, marked as ‘Can’t say’. each writer was considered to have penned it separately. Articles by news agencies, news desks, editors, or unnamed correspondents were not considered.
gender inequality in indian media 6 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS
We used a range of methods to make our research robust and to reduce margins of error. Constraints of time and resources, however, imposed certain limitations as explained below.
Data Collection
We used an open-source software tool to collect data from digital media. For newspapers, TV news channels, and magazines, we had to compile the data manually. Our team of over 20 members collected around 65,000 entries. Though we had a streamlined process of data collection and quality checks in place, there might have been some errors leading to duplication of names, mismatched entries and such.
Topics and Fields
Data analysis demands objectivity in classification and categorisation. Our research subject and data variables, however, made this difficult. For example, we categorised all bylined articles according to the topic of discussion. But an article can cover multiple topics. In such a case, we tried to situate it in context and then used discretion in categorisation. Similarly, a TV panellist advocating a political party’s viewpoint while working for an NGO was listed under only one ‘field’ based on the topic of the debate. Again, this might have resulted in some overlaps. Our team believes that we came up with credible analytical points, although it would be inconsistent to put a precise number to the margin of error.
Sampling
While the newspapers for this study were selected on the basis of certain parameters – the Indian Readership Survey, the availability of online archives – TV news channels, magazines, digital outlets, and radio networks – were chosen more randomly, mainly based on their prominence. So, our sample should not be seen as being representative of the Indian media.
gender inequality in indian media 7 Correlation
We do not claim that there will always be a correlation between the data presented in this report and the content produced by the media. For example, comparing articles on gender issues published by different outlets, there might be a case where a newspaper is carrying more such articles with the aim of building opinion in favour of what might be considered a gender-insensitive position. The data points only indicate the extent to which gender issues are discussed, not whether they are presented or understood in their proper context.
This report should be seen as a preliminary step towards quantifying gender diversity in the Indian media, and an invitation to conduct further research on the subject.
gender inequality in indian media 8 ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS
Of the 2,963 writers whose articles appeared in the six The absence of women was even more pronounced English newspapers during the period of study, only in the top decile of writers according to the number a quarter were women. And of the articles published, of articles published. Women constituted about a only 20% were by women. Their share of the bylines third of the top decile in The Economic Times but less was less than the average in The Telegraph (11.8%) and than 20% in Hindustan Times, The Hindu, and The The Hindu (15.5%). [Figure A] Telegraph. [Figure B]
FIGURE A FIGOverall genderA composition
Number of Journalists (%) Number of Articles (%)
22.0% 28.2% 78.0% 71.8%
29.4% 24.7% 70.6% 75.3%
21.9% 15.5% 78.1% 84.5%
28.5% 20.9% 71.5% 79.1%
18.2% 11.8% 81.8% 88.2%
22.1% 20.4% 77.9% 79.6%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Female Male Male
gender inequality in indian media 9 FIGURE B FIGGender Bcomposition of the top decile by number of articles
18.5% 15.9% 32.7%
67.3% 81.5% 84.1%
14.3% 24.3% 24.2%
75.7% 85.7% 75.8%
Female Male
Across the front, opinion and business This fell sharply to 6% on sports pages. Not pages of these newspapers, only about surprisingly, given that women accounted for just 13.7% of the bylines on the sports pages. [Figure C] a quarter of the articles were credited to women. It was the same story when the articles were analysed by topic. Apart from Sports, women got to write less on Politics as well as Defence and National Security.
FIGURE C FIGGender C composition by page
13.7% 29.4% 27.8% 26.4% Number of Journalists (%) 70.6% 72.2% 73.6% 86.3%
Number of Articles (%) 27.3% 72.7% 26.9% 73.1% 24.3% 75.7% 5.9% 94.1%
Female Male
gender inequality in indian media 10 FIGURE D FIGGender compositionD by topic
Number of Journalists (%) Number of Articles (%)
28.2% 28.2% 71.8% 71.8%
25.7% 27.3% 74.3% 72.7%
34.5% 32.8% 65.5% 67.2%
11.7% 10.5% 88.3% 89.5%
33.7% 38.8% 66.3% 61.2%
22.6% 23.1% 77.4% 76.9%
19.8% 19.8% 80.2% 80.2%
31.8 32.6% 68.2% 67.4%
30.7% 33.3% 69.3% 66.7%
13.9% 6.0% 86.1% 94.0%
27.0% 24.5% 73.0% 75.5%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Female Male Male
gender inequality in indian media 11 In contrast, women bylined over 30% of the articles on Culture and Entertainment, Environment and Of the 17,312 articles analysed, only 457 were on Energy, and Public Life, and a third of the articles on gender issues, or less than 3%. Science and Technology. [Figure D]
Of the 17,311 articles analysed, only 457 were on and 24.1%, respectively, were bylined by women. In gender issues, or less than 3%. Of all such articles the other four English newspapers, over half of the published in The Telegraph and The Hindu, just 17.9% articles on gender issues were by women. [Figure E]
FIGURE E GenderFIG composition E by articles on gender issues
Number of Journalists (%)
100%
90%
80% 73.7 70.5 68.8 70%
60% 55.6 51.7 51.5 48.3 48.5 50% 44.4 40% 29.5 31.3 30% 26.3 Female 20% Male 10%
0%
Number of Articles (%)
100%
90% 82.1 80% 75.9 76.2
70% 59.1 60% 56.9 50.9 49.1 50% 40.9 43.1 40%
30% 24.1 23.8 17.9 Female 20% Male 10%
0%
gender inequality in indian media 12 HINDI NEWSPAPERS
Between October 2018 and March 2019, the seven Just as in case of the English newspapers, women’s Hindi newspapers selected for this study published representation was even more skewed in the top 2,084 writers and no more than 17% of them were decile of writers by the number of bylines. Women women. Of the 6,806 articles that appeared during made up nearly 20% of the top decile in Amar Ujala this period, an average of 11% were by women. Prabhat but less than 7% in Hindustan and around 5% each in Khabar, Punjab Kesari and Rajasthan Patrika had Rajasthan Patrika and Punjab Kesari. [Figure B] women write less than 10% of the bylined articles. [Figure A]
FIGURE A Overall genderFIG compositionA
Number of Journalists (%) Number of Articles (%)
21.1% 18.4% 78.9% 81.6%
19.7% 12.3% 80% 87.6% 0.3% 0.1%
22.7% 12.5% 76% 86.3% 1.3% 1.2%
23.8% 15.4% 76.2% 84.6%
9.6% 9.4% 90.4% 90.6%
7.7% 5.9% 63.6% 82.0% 28.8% 12.1%
8.4% 4.6% 91.1% 88.8% 0.5% 6.7%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Female Male Male Can’t Say Can’t Say
gender inequality in indian media 13 FIGURE B FIGGender B composition of the top decile by number of articles
6.7% 12.2% 13.3% 18.9%
81.1% 87.8% 93.3% 86.7%
10.3% 10.5% 5.3% 5.3%
Female
Male 89.7% 84.2% 94.7% Can’t Say
This was consistent with the trend of few women Only 5% of the articles published on the landing front page bylines. Only 5% of the front pages of the seven newspapers articles published on the front pages of the seven newspapers were by women. The figure fell to 2.7% were by women. on sports pages. [Figure C].
FIGURE C Gender composition by page FIG C
1.5% 12.1% 4.0% 12.7% 6.0% 4.2% 24.0% 18.8% Number of Journalists (%) 74.5% 81.9% 77.2% 83.1%
Number of Articles (%) 0.6%, 15.4%, 84.0% 11.2%, 5.0%, 83.7% 2.2%, 12.6%, 85.2% 4.8%, 2.7%, 92.4%
Female Male Can’t Say
gender inequality in indian media 14 FIGURE D FIGGender Dcomposition by topic
Number of Journalists (%) Number of Articles (%)
16.6% 11.2% 79.8% 87.4% 3.6% 1.4%
6.7% 4.7% 78.7% 82.2% 14.6% 13.1%
17.2% 13.5% 81.6% 85.5% 1.2% 0.8%
7.5% 4.0% 83.0% 89.2% 9.5% 6.8%
14.1% 16.9% 82.8% 81.2% 3.0% 1.9%
17.9% 15.2% 78.9% 82.5% 3.2% 2.3%
7.6% 9.4% 83.4% 85.2% 9.0% 5.5%
21.8% 14.6% 74.4% 82.0% 3.8% 3.3%
8.7% 9.1% 90.2% 91.2% 1.1% 0.8%
12.8% 4.9% 77.7% 90.2% 9.6% 3.9%
11.0% 8.4% 85.8% 88.5% 3.2% 3.1%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Female Male Male Can’t Say Can’t Say
gender inequality in indian media 15 Save for International Affairs and Environment and Energy, women wrote no more than 15% of the Only 3% of the articles published across these articles on all topics, with their share of bylines newspapers covered gender issues. dropping below 5% in case of Crime and Accident, Defence and National Security, and Sports. [Figure D] articles, that covered articles on issues of gender. While all seven newspapers carried articles on Women bylined 58% of such articles in Amar Ujala gender issues, only five did so on their front pages. but only 17% in Rajasthan Patrika and a measly 11% in There were just 205 articles, or 3% of the total Punjab Kesari. [Figure E]
FIGURE E GenderFIG composition E by articles on gender issues
Number of Journalists (%)
100% 79.2 80.0 80% 76.9
70% 63.3 60% 56.5 55.2 50.0 50.0 50% 43.5 40% 36.7 31.0 30% 23.1 20.8 20.0 20% 13.8 Female 10% Male Can’t Say 0%
Number of Articles (%)
100% 83.3 79.2 80%
70% 68.2 61.8 57.9 60% 52.0 51.1 48.9 50% 48.0 42.1 38.2 40%
30% 20.8 20.5 20% 16.7 11.4 Female 10% Male Can’t Say 0%
gender inequality in indian media 16 ENGLISH TELEVISION NEWS
The seven English TV news channels chosen for this The abundance of all-male panels shows the extent study together aired 1,967 shows of their flagship of women’s underrepresentation on TV debates. debates during the period under consideration. A total NDTV 24x7 featured the lowest proportion of all- of 1,906 individuals participated in these debates of male panels at 38.5% of its debates. Rajya Sabha TV whom women were less than a quarter. And women had the highest at 82%. [Figure B] accounted for just 15.7% of the appearances by these panellists, meaning male panellists on average attended, or were invited to, 50% more debates than their female counterparts. [Figure A]
FIGURE A FIGOverall Agender composition
Number of Panellists (%) Number of Appearances (%)
18 76.8% 23.2% 82.1% 17.9%
77.9% 22.1% 82.3% 17.7%
73.6% 25.7% 0.7% 77.9% 21.7% 0.4%
77.4% 22.6% 77.0% 23.0%
87.5% 12.5% 92.6% 7.4%
76.5% 23.5% 87.7% 12.3%
77.6% 22.4% 87.6% 12.4%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Male Female Other
FIGURE B ProportionFIG B of all-male panels
53.0 58.3 41.2 38.5 49.1 82.1 60.6
18
(percentage)
gender inequality in indian media 17 FIGURE C FIGGender Ccomposition of the top decile by TV appearance
13.6 15.2 15.3 10.3 10.3
29.5 100.0 86.4 84.8 84.7 70.5 89.7 89.7
18
Male Female (Percentage)
The representation of women in the top decile of Representation of woman panellists who were panellists by appearance was 10%-15%, rising to bureaucrats, defence experts, financial experts, or almost 30% at NDTV 24x7. In contrast, no woman think tank representatives was particularly low. featured in the top decile of panellists on Rajya [Figure D] Sabha TV. [Figure C]
FIGURE D FIGGender D composition by field
Number of Panellists (%) Number of Appearances (%)
69.2% 29.7% 1.1% 73.5% 25.9% 0.6%
74.8% 25.2% 81.2% 18.8%
94.1% 5.9% 97.7% 2.3%
90.5% 9.5% 94.4% 5.6%
97.0% 3.0% 99.3% 0.7%
90.9% 9.1% 92.5% 7.5% 76.8% 23.2% 82.9% 17.1%
65.6% 34.0% 0.3% 67.1% 32.8% 0.1%
75.6% 23.6% 0.8% 89.3% 10.5% 0.2% 83.2% 16.8% 86.7% 13.3%
82.0% 18.0% 93.4% 6.6%
87.5% 12.5% 94.2% 5.8%
55.7% 43.7% 0.5% 67.9% 31.9% 0.2%
94.3% 5.7% 94.3% 5.7%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Male Female Other
gender inequality in indian media 18 FIGURE E FIGGender Ecomposition by topic
Number of Panellists (%) Number of Appearances (%)
12.1% 7.4% 87.9% 92.6%
22.7% 17.4% 77.3% 82.6%
28.8% 30.1% 71.2% 69.9%
9.1% 5.5% 90.9% 94.5%
18.3% 17.6% 81.7% 82.4%
9.2% 6.2% 90.8% 93.8%
18.5% 14.8% 81.5% 85.2%
34.7% 34.1% 64.7% 65.6% 0.6% 0.3%
100% 100%
10.6% 7.8% 89.4% 92.2%
20.8% 15.3% 78.9% 84.6% 0.2% 0.1%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Female Male Male Other Other
gender inequality in indian media 19 FIGURE F Gender composition of panels debating gender issues FIG F
Number of Panellists (%)
18 45.1% 59.4%
28.6% 71.4%
47.8% 50.4% 1.9%
36.0% 64.0%
52.6% 47.4%
43.2% 56.8%
46.7% 53.3%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Male Other
FIGURE G The only area where women enjoyed fair Gender composition of anchors moderating representation was anchoring. FIGdebates G
Number of Number of About 7.5% of the debates across the channels Anchors (%) Appearances (%) covered gender issues. The panels for these debates had roughly equal gender representation, although women comprised 64% of the panellists on NDTV 41.7% 48.4% 24x7 and 71% on India Today. Mirror Now was the 58.3% 51.6% only channel that invited panellists who did not identify with either gender, for a debate on the Transgender Bill after it was introduced in the parliament. [Figure F] Male Female The only area where women enjoyed fair representation was anchoring. The seven channels together featured 20 male and 28 female anchors Women were similarly underrepresented when the during the period under consideration, and they panellists were categorised by topic. They made up moderated roughly an equal number of shows. about a quarter of the panels discussing issues of [Figure G] Culture and Entertainment or Public Life but were completely absent from debates related to Science and Technology. [Figure E]
gender inequality in indian media 20 HINDI TELEVISION NEWS
The seven Hindi news channels studied for this Over half of the debates across these channels report telecast 1,185 debates from October 2018 to featured all-male panels, with the figure rising March 2019. A total of 1,252 individuals participated to nearly 75% in case of India TV and NDTV India. in these debates but only 12% were women. Male [Figure B] panellists attended far more debates than their No woman featured in the top decile of panellists female counterparts, who accounted for less than by appearance on News18 India, India TV, and Rajya 9% of the total appearances. [Figure A] Sabha TV. [Figure C]
FIGURE A Overall gender composition FIG A
Number of Panellists (%) Number of Appearances (%)
89.6% 10.4% 90.8% 9.2%
18 87.7% 12.3% 91.7% 8.3%
87.6% 12.4% 93.4% 6.6%
86.1% 13.9% 85.1% 14.9%
88.4% 11.6% 90.2% 9.8%
92.2% 7.8% 93.5% 6.5%
90.7% 9.3% 91.7% 8.3%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Male Female
FIGURE B ProportionFIG B of all-male panels
52.2% 72.8% 67.9% 74.4% 74.5% 71.9% 60.2%
18
gender inequality in indian media 21 FIGURE C FIGGender C composition of the top decile by TV appearance
8.8% 13.9% 8.3% 10.6%
100% 100% 100% 91.2% 86.1% 91.7% 89.4%
18 Male Female
Not a single woman panellist was a bureaucrat, spokespersons of political parties. Even then, they defence or financial expert, or represented a think made up less than 9% of the panels debating such tank. For debates on Defence and National Security, subjects. [Figure D] women were invited mostly in their capacity as
FIGURE D FIGGender Dcomposition of panels
Number of Panellists (%) Number of Appearances (%)
79.5% 20.5% 80.5% 19.5%
76.2% 23.8% 77.4% 22.6%
100.0% 100.0%
90.9% 9.1% 92.9% 7.1%
100.0% 100.0%
100.0% 100.0% 81.4% 18.6% 80.9% 19.1%
85.9% 14.1% 87.9% 12.1%
82.7% 17.3% 95.1% 4.9% 91.6% 8.4% 91.7% 8.3%
85.7% 14.3% 90.8% 9.2%
97.2% 2.8% 98.0% 2.0%
60.5% 39.5% 78.4% 21.6%
100.0% 100.0%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Male Female
gender inequality in indian media 22 Women’s representation rose to about a quarter panels debating Science and Technology matters. in panels debating matters related to Culture [Figure E] and Entertainment or Public Life, and to a third in
FIGURE E Gender composition by topic
Number of Panellists (%) Number of Appearances (%)
4.3% 6.8% 95.7% 93.2%
12.0% 8.8% 88.0% 91.2%
25.0% 25.0% 75.0% 75.0%
6.9% 5.3% 93.1% 94.7%
11.1% 13.6% 88.9% 86.4%
5.1% 8.4% 94.9% 91.6%
9.8% 8.2% 90.2% 91.8%
26.5% 24.4% 73.5% 75.6%
33.3% 33.3% 66.7% 66.7%
100% 100%
10.0% 9.9% 90.0% 90.1%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Female Male Male
gender inequality in indian media 23 FIGURE F FIGGender F composition of panels debating gender issues
Number of Panellists (%)
66.7% 33.3%
33.3% 66.7%
25.0% 75.0%
54.5% 45.5%
60.7% 39.3%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Male
FIGURE G Not a single woman panellist was a Gender composition of anchors moderating bureaucrat, defence or financial expert, debates FIG G or represented a think tank.
Number of Number of Anchors (%) Appearances (%) Only five of the channels aired debates on gender issues, even though the period under consideration coincided with the MeToo allegations and the 47.5% 25.7% agitation against women’s entry into Kerala’s 52.5% 74.3% Sabarimala temple. And even in debates on gender issues, women were underrepresented. A debate on ‘Maternal Health and Challenges’ on Rajya Sabha
Male Female TV, for example, had one female panellist and four men. The same channel conducted a debate on ‘The Global Nutrition Report 2018’ and invited a male official to represent even the Ministry of Women and Child Development. [Figure F]
The only area where women had equal representation to men was anchoring. There were 21 female and 19 male anchors across the seven channels. Men, however, still anchored three times as many debates as women. [Figure G]
gender inequality in indian media 24 DIGITAL MEDIA
Women were better represented online women were better represented online than in than in newspapers or on TV. newspapers or on TV, accounting for over a third of the writers and nearly 40% of all articles. The We studied eleven digital media outlets published proportion of women’s bylines, though, fell to 7.4% in English and a couple published in Hindi. in Newslaundry (Hindi), 14.9% in Swarajya, and Together, from October 2018 to March 2019, these 16.5% in Satyagrah. [Figure A] outlets posted articles by 1,124 writers. On average,
FIGURE A OverallFIG gender A composition
Number of Contributors (%) Number of Articles (%)
68.5% 31.5% 75.8% 24.2%
64.3% 35.7% 68.5% 31.5%
88.6% 11.4% 92.6% 7.4%
78.1% 21.9% 83.5% 16.5%
79.7% 20.3% 85.1% 14.9%
53.6% 46.4% 39.6% 60.4%
44.4% 55.6% 39.4% 60.6%
56.4% 43.6% 36.7% 63.3%
50.7% 49.3% 57.6% 42.4%
64.1% 35.9% 68.3% 31.7%
49.4% 50.6% 58.7% 41.3%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Female Male Male
gender inequality in indian media 25 FIGURE B FIGGender Bcomposition of the top decile by number of articles
15.0% 20.0% 33.3% 100% 85.0% 66.7% 80.0%
14.3% 23.8% 25.0%
100%
76.2% 75.0% 85.7%
35.7% 41.7% 37.5% Female Male 64.3% 58.3% 62.5%
There was greater variance in gender representation of the top decile by the number of articles The top deciles at The Print and The published. On the one hand, the top decile in The News Minute were heavily dominated Ken was entirely female. On the other, not one by women. woman featured in the top decile at Newslaundry (Hindi). The top deciles at The Print and The News Minute were heavily dominated by women in sharp contrast to Firstpost, Newslaundry, and Swarajya. While women contributed many more articles on [Figure B] gender issues than men on average, Newslaundry (Hindi) and Swarajya again trailed. In all, though, Over half of the articles on Crime and Accident, only 3.7% of of the around 21,000 articles discussed Culture and Entertainment, State and Policy, and gender issues. [Figure D] Public Life were written by women. In contrast, women bylined few articles on Sports and Science and Technology. [Figure C]
gender inequality in indian media 26 FIGURE C FIGGender compositionC by topic
Number of Contributors (%) Number of Articles (%)
38.3% 34.6% 61.7% 65.4%
46.1% 54.6% 53.9% 45.4%
47.7% 51.4% 52.3% 48.6%
29.9% 21.9% 70.1% 78.1%
40.0% 49.4% 60.0% 50.6%
36.2% 40.8% 63.8% 59.2%
35.1% 35.2% 64.9% 64.8%
41.9% 51.4% 58.1% 48.6%
38.6% 15.4% 61.4% 84.6%
21.6% 13.8% 78.4% 86.2%
39.7% 59.6% 60.3% 40.4%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Female Male Male
gender inequality in indian media 27 FIGURE D FIGGender compositionD by articles on gender issues
Number of Contributors (%) Number of Articles (%)
54.4% 58.4% 45.6% 41.6%
55.6% 56.8% 44.4% 43.2%
27.8% 39.3% 72.2% 60.7%
22.2% 57.1% 77.8% 42.9%
20.0% 13.0% 80.0% 87.0%
71.4% 82.9% 28.6% 17.1%
72.3% 84.7% 27.7% 15.3%
67.3% 68.6% 32.7% 31.4%
57.6% 64.7%
42.4% 35.3%
57.1% 53.9% 42.9% 46.1%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Female Male Male
gender inequality in indian media 28 MAGAZINES
The 12 magazines chosen for this study covered an The top decile of writers by the number of articles array of interests, from Politics and International published was entirely female in The Caravan and Affairs to Sports and Gender Issues, and all followed Femina, but entirely male in Frontline, Organiser, the broad media trend of men predominating. Outlook (Hindi) and Sarita. [Figure B] Femina was the sole exception. Sarita, a Hindi Only three of the magazines carried articles on magazine whose target audience is women, Defence and National Security and Sports that were featured more male writers than female during written by women. Across the dozen magazines, the six months covered by the study. [Figure A]
FIGURE A Overall FIGgender compositionA COPY
Number of Contributors (%) Number of Articles (%)
64.7% 35.3% 68.8% 31.3%
69.2% 30.8% 66.7% 33.3%
9.1% 90.9% 3.4% 96.7%
81.8% 18.2% 88.4% 11.6%
69.2% 30.8% 77.6% 22.4%
70.8% 29.2% 80.0% 20.0%
82.8% 17.2% 85.6% 14.4%
65.9% 34.1% 64.2% 35.8%
92.4% 7.6% 94.6% 5.4%
60.0% 40.0% 75.4% 24.6%
90.2% 9.8% 87.9% 12.1%
78.6% 21.4% 88.0% 12.0%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Female Male Male
gender inequality in indian media 29 FIGURE B FIGGender Bcomposition of the top decile by number of articles
25.0% 100% 100% 100% 75.0%
25.0% 25.0% 28.6% 100% 75.0% 75.0% 71.4%
20.0%
100% 100% 100% 80.0%
Female Male
merely two of the articles on International Affairs were bylined by women, one of them a foreigner. There was not one article on Science There was not one article on Science and Technology and Technology by a woman. Culture by a woman. Culture and Entertainment was the and Entertainment was the only topic only topic on which women wrote nearly as much on which women wrote nearly as much as men. [Figure C] as men. Only nine of the magazines carried articles on gender issues during the period under consideration. Business Today, Sportstar, and even Femina did not carry any article that could be classified as the articles on gender issues published by these being about gender on their cover page. Frontline, magazines were in October and November of last Organiser, and Outlook (Hindi) did carry articles on year when the MeToo allegations started surfacing, gender but none by a woman. Moreover, most of including in the media industry. [Figure D]
gender inequality in indian media 30 FIGURE C FIGGender Ccomposition by topic
Number of Contributors (%) Number of Articles (%)
33.3% 33.3% 66.7% 66.7%
15.4% 14.3% 84.6% 85.7%
42.4% 49.4% 57.6% 50.6%
8.3% 6.6% 91.7% 93.4%
22.2% 22.2% 77.8% 77.8%
11.1% 8.0% 88.9% 92.0%
14.9% 13.1% 85.1% 86.9%
38.4% 47.0% 61.6% 53.0%
38.6% 100% 100%
19.1% 21.2% 80.9% 78.8%
17.7% 15.8% 82.3% 84.2%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Female Male Male
gender inequality in indian media 31 FIGURE D FIGGender compositionD by articles on gender issues
Number of Contributors (%) Number of Articles (%)
66.7% 71.4% C 33.3% 28.6%
F 100.0% 100.0%
52.9% 61.9% I 47.1% 38.1%
71.4% 73.3% I 28.6% 26.7%
100.0% 100.0%
64.7% 64.7% 35.3% 35.3%
100.0% 100.0%
60.0% 42.9% 40.0% 57.1%
100.0% 100.0%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Female Female Male Male Can’t Say Can’t Say
gender inequality in indian media 32 RADIO
We looked at five private radio networks and In all the cities except Delhi and Kolkata, at least half collected demographic data on their presenters of Radio Mirchi’s presenters were women, with the in 10 major cities. Across the 10 stations of each of figure rising to 80% in Hyderabad. Big FM employed the networks except Radio Mirchi, there were fewer more women than men as radio jockeys in Patna and female than male radio jockeys. In only two of the Bhopal, as many as men in Guwahati, and none in 10 cities, women outnumbered men as radio jockeys Chandigarh. [Figure A] across stations.
The gender ratio was particularly skewed against female presenters in Delhi, Chandigarh and Kolkata.
FIGURE A Percentage of Female Radio Jockeys
City ->
Channel Delhi Mumbai Bengaluru Lucknow Patna Guwahati Hyderabad Chandigarh Kolkata Bhopal Average Channel
Radio Mirchi 40 57.14 60 50 60 60 80 60 30 57.1 55.4
Red FM 28.6 40.0 60.0 50.0 33.3 75.0 40.0 33.3 33.3 50.0 44.4
Big FM 23.3 45.5 42.9 27.3 52.9 50.0 36.4 0.0 37.5 61.5 37.7
Fever FM 18.2 33.3 33.3 28.6 - - 60.0 - - - 34.7
Radio City 40.0 33.3 40.0 40.0 50.0 - 33.3 - - - 39.4
Average City 30.0 41.9 47.2 39.2 49.1 61.7 49.9 31.1 33.6 56.2
gender inequality in indian media 33 APPENDIX
Sources
Newspapers TV News Channels Radio
• The Times of India • Republic TV • Radio Mirchi (Mumbai) • India Today Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chandigarh, • Hindustan Times • NDTV 24x7 Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, (Mumbai) • Mirror Now Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, • The Hindu • Times Now Patna (Chennai) • CNN-News 18 • The Indian Express • Rajya Sabha TV • Red FM (Delhi) • Republic Bharat Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chandigarh, • The Telegraph • Aaj Tak Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, (Kolkata) • NDTV India Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, • The Economic Times • India TV Patna (Mumbai) • Zee News • Dainik Bhaskar • News 18 India • Big FM (Patna) • Rajya Sabha TV Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chandigarh, • Amar Ujala Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, (Lucknow) Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, • Navbharat Times Patna Magazines (Delhi) • Rajasthan Patrika • Outlook • Fever FM (Jaipur) • India Today Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, • Prabhat Khabar • Business Today Lucknow, Mumbai (Ranchi) • The Caravan • Punjab Kesari • Frontline • Radio City (Ludhiana) • Sportstar Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, • Hindustan • Outlook (Hindi) Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna (Delhi) • India Today (Hindi) • Tehelka • Femina Digital News Outlets • Sarita • Organiser • The Print • The News Minute • The Quint • Newslaundry • Scroll.in • The Ken • The Wire • Swarajya • Firstpost • Newslaundry (Hindi) • Satyagrah
gender inequality in indian media 34 APPENDIX
Topics and Fields
The topics used to analyse the data are: The fields used to categorise TV panellists are:
1) Business and Economy: Macroeconomic 1) Academia indicators, financial markets, individual 2) Business businesses, domestic and global trade. 3) Bureaucrat 2) Crime and Accident: Riots, murder, communal violence, lynching, sexual harassment, rape, 4) Bar and Bench accident, building collapse, fire. 5) Defence Expert (includes retired armed forces 3) Culture and Entertainment: Film, music, art, personnel) dance, books, authors, literary awards, reviews, 6) Financial Expert art and literary festivals. 7) Independent Expert (environmentalists, medical 4) Defence and National Security: War, conflict, doctors, sportspersons, film directors, writers) armed forces, insurgency, naxalism, terrorism. 8) Media 5) Environment and Energy: Climate change, weather, wildlife, plants, earth science, 9) NGO and CSO (belonging to non-governmental renewable energy, fossil fuels, environmental organisations or civil society organisations) science research. 10) Political Analyst (only independent political 6) International Affairs: All foreign news, Indian analysts, not party spokespersons) diplomatic affairs. 11) Party Spokesperson 7) Politics: Parties, elections, statements by 12) Religious Expert (spiritual gurus, heads of politicians. religious denominations) 8) Public Life: Protests, demonstrations, rights 13) Social Activist movements, social unrest, daily life, media, journalism. 14) Think Tank
9) Science and Technology: Inventions, discoveries, science explainers, communications technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning.
10) Sports: All sports, sports organisations, doping, scandals.
11) State and Policy: Agriculture, rural affairs, urban affairs, education, healthcare, transport, bureaucracy, transfers and recruitment, ministries, judiciary.
gender inequality in indian media 35 PROJECT TEAM
Project Lead Sarthak Bhatia
Team Leads Shyam Sundar and Tanika Chandna
Copy Editor Mehraj D Lone
Research Associates Alisha Sachdeva, Deepita Shukla, Hanishek Honey, Shefali Mehta, Subia Ahmad, Suyashi Smridhi, Veydaant Khanna
Interns Amandeep, Avantika Mohan, Ayushi Mishra, Fiza Mishra, Harsh Shukla, Pooja Verma, Pratik Waghmera, Pratiksha Thayil, Sanaa Sharma, Subhiksha Manoj, Sucharita Ganguly, Supriti David, Tiyashi Datta, Udita Shome, Vaidehi Sahasrabhojanee
Report design Anandita Bishnoi
Cover page illustration Anish Daolagupu
gender inequality in indian media 36 Newslaundry Teamwork Arts UN Women B 113, Sarvodaya Enclave Mansarovar Building, Multi-Country Office for India, New Delhi 110017 Plot No 366 Min, Sultanpur Bhutan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka MG Road, New Delhi - 110030 Facebook: @newslaundry UN House, 55 Lodhi Estate New Twitter: @newslaundry Delhi 110003 India YouTube: @newslaundry Facebook: @teamworkarts Instagram: @newslaundry Twitter: @teamworkarts Tel : +91-11- 46532250 Email:[email protected] Email: [email protected] Fax: +91-11- 24627612