Women remain underrepresented in media in India, holding only 24% of opinion-making positions according to a UNESCO report. However, in metro newspapers, websites and TV channels, women may outnumber men in terms of total employees. Nonetheless, few women make it to top leadership roles. Some positive signs are that women journalists can more easily report from rural areas and are finding success in crowd-funded media projects. The document also profiles some influential women in Indian media, such as Barkha Dutt, Homai Vyarawalla, the first female photojournalist in India, and Ekta Kapoor, a top executive in television.

3. Women Journalist in
MediaIn such a rapidly changing environment,
women in media have a large responsibility
in not only changing attitude towards
women but also shaping public opinion. With
women holding responsible position in
newspapers or electronic media, their
competency should extend to a wider area
and a range of issues.

4. Clear Gender
ImbalanceThere’s a clear gender imbalance in the number of contributors to
the press, as made clear by a Newslaundry review of four leading
Indian English newspapers. Of the 8,681 articles reviewed, 73
percent were written by men. This means that for every piece
written by a woman, three were written by men.
A UNESCO report on women journalists says that even today,
women in the media account only for 24% of all opinion-makers.
But if you looked at absolute number of employees, the imbalance is
not as skewed. Seema Chisti, Resident Editor of The Indian Express in
New Delhi believes that the media is one of the few industries in
India where women can outnumber men, at least in metro dailies,
websites and TV channels. That doesn’t mean however that these
women are making it to the top.

5. Soft News for
Women!!!
Hard News
for Men???

7. Boots on the ground –
The Good Side
Dhanya Rajendran, Managing Editor of The News
Minute says that reporting is in fact easy for a
woman. Rajendran says that her experience as a
reporter in southern India has been better than it
would have been had she been a man. She says
that even in tense, crowded situations in villages in
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, people have been
better behaved with a woman journalist.

8. Crowd Power to the Women in the
Media
Women looking to finance their media projects have been helped by
Crowd funding websites such as Kickstarter which are allowing more
media-related projects to spring to life, and women are proving
rather successful in obtaining this funding. Many of Kickstarter’s
categories are related to such media as photography, film, video and
publishing.

10. The Most Influential Women of Media
Barkha Dutt is an Indian television journalist and columnist, as well
as the group editor with NDTV, noted for her brave reportage in the
dangerous conditions of the Kargil War.
She has been honoured with several national and international
awards, including India’s fourth highest civilian honour, the Padma
Shree. She has become the model for the portrayal of modern female
journalists in India.
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11. Do You Know Who Is India’s First Female
Photo Journalist?
Brave, independent and unconventional, Homai Vyarawalla is known
to be India’s first female photo journalist. She captured some of the
most memorable and incredible moments of Indian history – from
the first flag hoisting ceremony at the Red Fort on 16th August 1947
to the cremation of world renowned dignitaries like Mahatma
Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. TBI remembers this amazing lady and
her extraordinary contribution to Indian media.

12. Ekta Kapoor, Joint Managing
Director and Creative Director, Balaji
Telefilms, has topped IMPACT’s 50
Most Influential Women in Media,
Marketing and Advertising list, 2016