Ask any woman working in the media and entertainment industry and they would universally agree with two facts:
- Women account for a key demographic as writers, PROs and advertisers.
- These very women are severely underrepresented at managerial positions and boardrooms.
The question remains why – both theoretically and statistically.
The counterintuitive fact remains that while women are quite well represented across different sectors across the media industry at the early stages of their careers, they increasingly become a minority at the higher echelons. The statistics read that only 27% of women hold media management positions worldwide. Examining the case of India, women account for roughly half the population of the media industry at large, however, there remains an eminent gender disparity in the boardrooms. The managerial statistics look just as bleak to illustrate the above. Women in top leadership positions in India made up a mere 13.6% of magazines, 20.9% of TV Channels, and less than 5% of newspaper positions.
If we turn our gaze towards corporate America, Mckinsey in 2020 reports that women hold a whopping 49% of the jobs in the industry although they are largely concentrated in the entry-level positions. Furthermore, there are multiple reasons to be concerned about this statistical disparity, as the individuals and corporations that hold the reigns of this industry are the powerful controllers of our perceptions. Now more than ever, we require a diverse set of voices that echo varied perspectives in broadcast media, television, and film.
Majority of the seats at undergraduate and postgraduate programs over the last decade have consistently been occupied by female candidates worldwide. Consequently, women certainly hold an advantage in an entry-level position. But with every run up the corporate ladder, this advantage starts to fade. Each step further has less and less female representation in the industry. At the top of the ladder, the representation rate stands at a desolate 1%.
Research shows that women in the industry are largely competent at and satisfied with their jobs and more than a third have asked for promotions in the past year. Thus, this irony cannot be correlated to the lack of ambition or low desire for managerial growth. The dissatisfaction lies with the fact that women feel that they are judged by different and harsher standards than men. This makes it a challenging environment for young women to achieve similar growth within the industry. Furthermore, this is exacerbated by the lack of internal advancement by more men than women being hired from outside the company to occupy the C-suite positions. Globally, the inequality continues to mount when intersected with factors such as race, with white women holding the majority of the positions and women of colour having little to no representation in these positions.
The creation of neutral and fair evaluation mechanisms can be tangible starting points within the industry. This can be compounded with understanding if individuals are being favored on the basis of gender, ethnicity, or race as opposed to their individual merit. The larger challenge lies in tackling the culture of the negative perception of women in higher positions, although this is not curtailed strictly to the media industry.
A concrete approach is required by companies which combat factors such as training against unconscious bias while hiring (set of cognitive and organizational biases) which not only executives fall prey to, but also individuals. By including women leaders in the conversation who have scaled up despite the obstacles, including men in this conversation as allies and adoption of concrete action — the birth of a new space can be witnessed. When the employees deem a system as fair, it paves way for greater meritocracy and employee satisfaction, leading to long term loyalty and overall growth of the organization.