The media and film industry can shape cultural perceptions and attitudes towards gender for better or worse.

Gender stereotypes and underrepresentation in media can contribute to harmful disrespect and violence towards women. Children are influenced by gendered stereotypes in media from a young age, which can perpetuate preferences for gender-appropriate content and activities, traditional beliefs of gender roles occupations and personalities, and attitudes towards life expectations and aspirations.

Creating news by, for, and about women is a necessary step toward advancing gender equality and ensuring that women and girls can have equal opportunities for education, employment, and well-being. When marginalized groups, including women and girls, people of color, and people with disabilities, don’t see themselves represented they lack the modeling to thrive.

Check out the facts below and learn more about why we must all work to make sure women get better representation in media — and you can make a start right now by taking action with us here to get more women on Wikipedia.

  1. Women only make up around 20% of expert news sources.
  2. Only 24% of the people in newspaper, television, and radio news are women.
  3. Only 4% of traditional news and digital news stories explicitly challenge gender stereotypes.
  4. Women are only the subject of political and governmental coverage 16% of the time.
  5. Only 6% of news stories highlight issues of gender equality or inequality.
  6. Women reporters are only responsible for 37% of stories.

When women have a seat at the table they are more likely to advocate for other women. A lack of representation in newsrooms and media companies means that women receive fewer opportunities to share the stories of other women and the issues that impact their lives. Women journalists are also twice as likely to challenge gender stereotypes in their reporting than male journalists.

Read the full article about the representation of women in media by Leah Rodriguez at Global Citizen.