Women occupy only 25.7% leadership positions in Nigerian newsrooms – Report

The Wole Soyinka Centre for Journalism (WSCIJ) recently launched a report, which revealed that only 25.7 per cent of women occupy leadership positions in various newsrooms across the country.

The report also revealed that the remaining 74.3 per cent is occupied by men.

The report, tagged, “Who leads the newsrooms and news? A report on women’s representation in newsrooms and news leadership in Nigeria,” also demanded intentional bridging of noticeable gaps.

The report brings to the fore, the reality of the ongoing conversations across the globe on issues relating to gender disparity in the media industry.

The report presents findings from a study that examined the extent of gender representation in newsrooms and news leadership roles across various Nigerian media organisations. 

The study was carried out with funding support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, under the Report Women! News and Newsroom Engagement project, as a tool of engagement with the staff and management of media houses.

An excerpt of the report states, “The study revealed that women’s representation in media leadership is low across the four media genres. Women accounted for 25.7 per cent of leadership positions while men dominated with 74.3 per cent.  Print and online platforms exhibited the lowest representation of women at 4.6 per cent and 5.5 per cent respectively, while radio and television showed slightly better representation at 9.2 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively

“Geographically, the South West and North Central had the most women in leadership positions, but they ranked lowest in percentage representation. The North West and South-South led in gender-balanced leadership with 31.2 per cent and 28.5 per cent representation respectively.”

Similarly, in terms of news representation, the study discovered that women were inadequately represented. Only 24 per cent of anchors and authors were women, with men making up 76 per cent. Men also dominated as expert resource persons or guests, comprising 87.9 per cent, while women constituted just 12.1 per cent. Furthermore, only 7.1 per cent of news focused on women, while 92.9 per cent covered other angles.

According to the WSCIJ, “To foster a more diverse and equitable media landscape, proactive measures are needed to enhance gender inclusivity and empower women within the industry.”

The Director of Daily Trust Foundation, Dr Theophilus Abbah, who reviewed the 90-page research document, opined that it provided evidence of the lop-sidedness in the media industry, stressing that “it holds a mirror to the face of media owners, media executives and newsroom leaders, showing an error that needs to be corrected and mistake of gender imbalance in the news business. It is a mistake because there are no gender norms in the media business. There is nowhere are we told what roles are reserved for men or women in the media business, unlike other areas in our cultural experiences.”

Speaking on the way forward to the concerns raised in the report, Abbah said, “The research has made several recommendations, which are relevant. It is a call on media organisations to be deliberate in ensuring that more women are given leadership roles in the newsroom, and more female newsmakers are sourced and featured in the news. 

“Other recommendations are to implement gender parity policies, improve representation of women in news reporting, increase female expert sources, promote gender-sensitive reporting and engage stakeholders.”

Abbah also recommended that qualitative research should be conducted to explore why the numbers are lopsided, without which it might be difficult to solve the problem of gender imbalance in the newsroom. 

He added, “For instance, it is good to know the following: How did the 32 per cent in leadership positions in the media climb the ladder up? What can other women and media organisations learn from them? Why do boards of media organisations appoint more males than females to leadership positions? Why do editors feature more male newsmakers than females in their publications? What kinds of training must women be exposed to qualify for leadership positions in the newsroom? How do pressures for the roles women play in their homes affect their growth prospects in the newsroom?

“Some of these questions could be answered through other research methods, separate from numerical data. Interviews and focus group discussions could bring out a lot more information that could complement the outcome of this research to change the imbalance in female representation in the newsroom.”

He urged the WSCIJ to circulate the report as widely as possible to media organisations. 

“Like every other kind of advocacy, the struggle for gender equity in the newsroom should not end with one activity; there must be multiple activities on diverse fronts until the change for equity becomes irresistible,” Abbah emphasised.

The Deputy Editor of The Eagle Online, Ms Juliana Francis, a member of the team of journalists and media managers who collected data on the gender composition of the board and management of 111 media organisations that gave birth to the report, said she was proud to be part of it despite challenges encountered while gathering the data.

She opined that the very detailed report was designed to push for an increased representation of women in news coverage and newsroom leadership.

She further said, “This report is a reality of what many of us have been debating for years now, the under-presentation of women, not just in our newsrooms, but leadership positions. This report can now be used to engage the leadership of media organisations, pushing for an increase in the representation of women in news coverage and newsroom leadership. 

“The report and data therein can be used to enrich and validate stories on gender disparity in our newsrooms. More women in leadership positions will encourage other female reporters to aspire to excel, rather than many feeling that no matter how hard they work or do not work, they will never go beyond reporters and presenters.”

She also urged women to speak out against erroneous beliefs that hinder their promotion to leadership positions, which is that women are difficult and tiresome as bosses. Another erroneous belief being perpetrated is that most women do not like speaking to journalists, let alone as expert sources. 

She advised journalists to cultivate the habit of seeing female reporters who have covered a beat for years as expert sources and speak to them as such.

She further advised media organisations to be very deliberate in their policies to catapult women into leadership positions and put them on beats usually reserved for their male counterparts.

“Leadership positions should not be seen or perceived as exclusively reserved for the boy’s club,” said Francis.

The Executive Director of Media Career Development Network, Mr Lekan Otufodunrin, reacting to arguments that there are not enough women in the newsrooms and management positions because of the job demand, especially working late hours, said technology had taken care of mundane excuses. 

He said, “We need to begin to see how we can demystify newsroom work and leverage technology.  During the COVID-19 era, many newsrooms ran without journalists being physically present. So, if we make use of what technology makes possible, we will realise that it is not about being present in the newsroom but being able to deliver.”

He argued that with technology, a female journalist can work from anywhere as a manager. “Being a media manager doesn’t mean staying late in the office or working till 2am. Media organisations need to begin to make use of what technology has made possible by holding virtual meetings and working remotely. If we do that, we will eliminate the argument of female managers not readily being available to work,” Otufodunrin said.