EQUAL REPRESENTATION DOES NOT TRANSLATE INTO EQUALITY FOR FEMALE JOURNALISTS IN AUSTRALIA

Female journalists in Australia are rising in number but diminishing at levels of higher hierarchy in media organisations. This paper will unearth the ‘whys’ and the ‘whats’ of a culture that is breeding this disarray inside newsrooms, addressing significant problems like a systematic pattern of sexism through years, a pay-gap ratio designed to look like it doesn’t exist but is, in fact, reflective of the hierarchy itself, prominent features of the gender politics in play and some arguments raised in earlier research. This paper aims to build a narrative based on data and statistics collected and analysed by various government and non-profit organisations, as well as gender-equality initiatives, surveys by unions, researchers and even news outlets, backed with a foundational understanding of why gender imbalance in the industry exists.