According to the latest Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) report, female representation in Indian media as subjects and sources dropped to 14 per cent in 2020. This drop was seen across all media platforms including print, television and radio. The research was supported by the Network of Women in Media.
Back in 2015, women in news made up for 21 per cent of total coverage, while in 2010 it was 22 per cent. The research, which is conducted every five years, witnessed a drop of six per cent between the previous and the current one.
In India, more male than female reporters are assigned across all major beats, including gender. Only 14 per cent of the stories in the research mentioned women in the year of 2020. And whatever little presence women had in news, 60 per cent of it came from celebrities, artists, actors, writers, singers and the like. Even women as spokesperson went from 15 per cent in 2015 to just eight per cent in 2020.
The fact that female journalists were more impacted by the pandemic, facing the loss of employment and salary cuts, could have also contributed to the drop. The study also observed that many journalists, often due to the situation at hand, dropped out of major media companies to work independently.
Another disturbing finding of the study is that there has been a drop in stories that challenge gender stereotypes in 2020. In 2010, 63 per cent of stories didn’t challenge gender stereotypes, and in 2020, the number has increased to a disappointing 95 per cent.