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Social Sciences
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Women’s Voices in the Media
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Women’s Voices in the Media

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Gender Studies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 1682

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Kathryn Shine

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Interests: gender equality; the portrayal and inclusion of women in the news; news sources; coverage of education in the news media; journalism education

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Women’s voices are marginalized in various forms of media around the globe. Their perspectives and experiences are under-represented and, when women are included, they are often portrayed in ways that reinforce gender stereotypes. High-achieving women in areas such as politics and sport are more likely to experience negative and critical media attention than men in similar roles.

The dominance of male voices is particularly pronounced in the news media. Approximately 70% of people quoted, heard and seen in the news are men. The most recent Global Media Monitoring Project, which analyses gender in news coverage from more than 100 countries every five years, found in 2020 that women made up just 26% of sources in newspapers, 26% of television news sources, 23% of radio news sources and 28% of online news sources. Overall, women were the focus of just 6% of stories in traditional media and 9% in online news sites. Women of color, women with disabilities and older women were largely absent. Studies from around the world have consistently confirmed this persistent gender imbalance in news coverage.

Inclusion and representation matter. Research has shown that media attention influences public perceptions about what issues are important and can shape understandings and expectations. If women’s voices and perspectives are not included and articulated, they are silenced and disempowered. Conversely, media coverage that portrays women’s expertise and experiences normalizes women as authority figures and promotes gender equality.

Other gender disparities also affect media industries. Despite increases in the number of women working in the media, research has found most of the leadership, decision-making and prestigious roles continue to be held by men. Within journalism, women are more likely to report on so-called ‘soft’ topics, while men dominate the reporting of perceived high-status topics such as politics and business.

This Special Issue aims to help shift more attention to this important yet under-researched area. It will explore the inclusion and portrayal of women in the media, with a particular focus on identifying solutions that encourage and support women as media workers and contributors.

Dr. Kathryn Shine
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • news media
  • women in the news
  • gender
  • gender equality
  • news sources
  • news representation
  • diversity
  • journalism practice
  • interviewing
  • journalism education

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 185 KiB  
Article
Who Really Leads? A Qualitative Exploration of Gender Equity in Leadership of Australian Newsrooms
by Diana Bossio and Andrea Carson
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(5), 311; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14050311 - 19 May 2025
Viewed by 113
Abstract
While recent research shows that women’s leadership in Australian newsrooms has grown, we have little understanding of how this change may have impacted career opportunities for women, or the newsroom more broadly. We draw from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with editorial leaders in newsrooms [...] Read more.
While recent research shows that women’s leadership in Australian newsrooms has grown, we have little understanding of how this change may have impacted career opportunities for women, or the newsroom more broadly. We draw from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with editorial leaders in newsrooms across Australia to understand how editorial leaders perceive the impact of women’s leadership on newsrooms. We find that Australian newsrooms have transformed in the last decade, with women dominating editorial leadership and staffing that is more reflective of gender equity. However, the interview data make clear that there are two exceptions—firstly, the executive C-suite of most mainstream news organisations is still dominated by men, and secondly, women’s leadership across reporting topics is still dominated by soft news. We, thus, provide evidence of just how much women’s editorial leadership roles appear to have resolved some of the gendered divisions in Australian newsrooms and the journalism they produce. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Women’s Voices in the Media)
22 pages, 2288 KiB  
Article
Doing Visibility: Understanding Gender and Discipline Differences in Science Communication on Social Media and in the Press
by Lina Spagert and Elke Wolf
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(3), 138; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14030138 - 25 Feb 2025
Viewed by 915
Abstract
Nowadays, visibility is playing an increasingly important role in science communication. The topic is particularly significant for female experts, as their visibility not only inspires other women but also challenges gender stereotypes in academia. This article provides the first insights into the actual [...] Read more.
Nowadays, visibility is playing an increasingly important role in science communication. The topic is particularly significant for female experts, as their visibility not only inspires other women but also challenges gender stereotypes in academia. This article provides the first insights into the actual public visibility of scientific experts in Germany and presents potential factors that influence visibility. The analysis is based on the theoretical concept of doing visibility and identifies factors that influence the decision to increase visibility via social media. Our complex dataset comprises 139 experts (59 from computer science and 80 from social sciences), who took part in our online survey about visibility and personal information. Additionally, we tracked the respondent’s online footprint to ascertain their actual visibility in social media and press. The study reveals significant differences in creating visibility and the perception of visibility by sex and discipline. Computer scientists are more active on social media, while male social scientists are more visible in the press. Male computer scientists (57%) post their work on social media most frequently, followed by female computer scientists (35%), female social scientists (24%), and male social scientists (17%). Furthermore, the engagement on social media depends on the discipline, age, and media affinity of the experts. Overall, female experts gain less visibility on LinkedIn and in the press, although the gender differences in IT are smaller in this respect. Based on the results, we discuss potential reasons for the unequal distribution of visibility and suggest targeted interventions to close the gender visibility gap, such as (social) media or interview training. In addition, organisations and media representatives should be trained to actively contribute to breaking down gender stereotypes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Women’s Voices in the Media)
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