The "Glass Ceiling"
Last year, UNESCO launched "Women Make the News" for the first time with an appeal by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura to the world's media to name women journalists to editorial management positions for one day to mark International Women's Day, 8 March 2001.
On that day, over 1,000 media ranging from radio, television, Internet, newspapers and magazines from 56 countries responded to the initiative thus demonstrating the need for international initiatives in highlighting the absence of women in media management and the importance of concerted efforts to increase their participation in mainstream media. (Click on Archives to see last year's web site.)
The 8 March 2000 initiative gave many women journalists the opportunity to prove what they were capable of achieving in newsroom decision-making ranks. The initiative also gave these women the opportunity to be initiated to duties other than the ones that they assumed during their customary working days, enabling them better to appreciate the work of the editor-in-chief and strengthen their motivation for career advancement. A decisive aspect of the experience was that it was an event that demystified and even demythologized the work of the editor-in-chief. The women who took command for a day discovered that they were sufficiently competent to assume editorial responsibility.
UNESCO drew up a report "Women Make the News: A Crack in the Glass Ceiling?" based on the materials generated by the 8 March 2000 initiative. The analysis of the articles produced on that day points to a marked under-representation of women as information sources and media executives. The general message is that women in the media cannot be complacent about their status. There is still more work to do. We are a long way away from parity in our societies.
Perhaps the most striking lesson from that one-day experience is the awareness and confirmation of the "glass ceiling" in the media industry, the existence of invisible and subtle, sometimes even overt and systematic barriers in the career advancement of women media professionals. The good news is that is an increasing number of women are breaking through the barriers and succeeding in cracking the "glass ceiling".
Read or download the full 56-page report "Women Make the News: A Crack in the Glass Ceiling?" (in PDF - 671 KB) (French Version in PDF - 671 KB).
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