More than half of women working across the media industries are dissatisfied or unsure how to advance their careers, and feel that commitment to gender equality is weak.
Career dissatisfaction for women tends to stem from a lack of opportunities, caregiving responsibilities, and being overlooked for promotion in place of equally or less qualified colleagues. Pay imbalances, heavy workloads and unclear pathways to further careers are driving women to leave the sector.
These are some of the findings of the inaugural Women in Media Insight Report, based a survey of 280 respondents from within the organisation’s membership base, which covers journalism, communications, production, public relations, publishing and digital media. Approximately 17 per cent of those surveyed come from television and film.
The survey examined women’s workload, retention and skilling efforts, support from leaders and direct managers, and pathways to development.
A vast majority (84 per cent) of respondents called for gender pay audits, with this seen as the most pressing issue the industry needs to address. Women in the the information, media and communications industry face a weekly earnings gap of 16 per cent when compared to male colleagues, above the national average of 13.5 per cent.
Forty-one per cent of respondents called for “shadowing programs” with industry leaders to provide more access and hands-on learning, and 40 per cent urged “micro-learning” to build digital skills in line with changing consumer habits. Thirty-eight per cent of women surveyed believe support from leaders and managers is crucial to create pathways to promotion.
Women were more likely to stay in a career if they saw opportunities for development, received better pay and felt appreciated and valued by their employer.
“The Report is a litmus test of fairness in an industry society would expect is prioritising gender equality – however the majority of our members say pay is an issue, and career advancement is problematic. Our members feel overwhelmingly dissatisfied with their
current career prospects,” said Women in Media patron and board member Victoria Laurie.
The organisation concludes a “female brain drain” could occur if media employers do not take action, and that there are four key issues that act as barriers to women’s career progression: industry commitment to address gender equality and pay transparency; pathways to promotion; support from leadership/direct managers and access to upskilling.
Based on the back of the report, Women in Media is urging employers to implement gender pay audits, increase shadowing programs to upskill future bosses, and for employers to offer ongoing training in digital skills.