Three quarters of those working in the technology industry in the UK believe that women are underrepresented in the media, according to new research, with 18% agreeing that the media needs to do more to address the gender imbalance in its reporting.
18% said it was at least 4 days since they had last seen a woman positioned as an expert commentator in the media, with over 1 in 10 saying they don’t even remember the last time it was.
The research, which explored opinions from across a number of industry sectors including technology (IT and telecoms), also revealed respondents’ perceptions of negative stereotyping by gender.
When asked about the terms they most associated with the portrayal of women in the media, ‘celebrity’ (20%) and ‘polite’ (21%) were among the most popular terms – all more commonly associated terms than ‘expert’ (14%) or ‘leader’ (15%).
the report neglected to inquire as to how many techies think that women are underrepresented in the UK technology industry…
The research was commissioned by Common Industry to mark the launch of rePResent, its new initiative aimed at tackling imbalanced gender representation in the media.
Commenting on the findings, Harriet Allner, Account Director at Common Industry, said:
“We know that gender representation in the media is far from balanced. Things are improving, but there’s still a long way to go, as our research highlights. As communications experts working within the tech sector, we’re in a position to change this – after all, we put people forward every day to speak on television, radio, across the press and podcasts and much more. We can curate change.”
Common Industry’s rePResent wants to see significant steps taken towards a more balanced representation of gender in the media in the next five years. It aims to drive a positive conversation around gender representation and diversity.
By working with female business leaders and founders, journalists and editors, the initiative aims to ensure communications professionals are part of the solution, closing the gap between businesses and the media. However, the report neglected to inquire as to how many techies think that women are underrepresented in the UK technology industry…
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