presentation assignment

1. REPRESENTING
DIFFERENCE
Challenging a ‘Man’s
World’

2. “IT’S A MAN’S WORLD”
TIMES MAGAZINE (2013)
It’s a Man’s World, and It Always Will Be
The modern economy is a male epic, in which
women have found a productive role — but women
were not its author.
Take a minute to watch…
The Representation Project: Rewrite the Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPAmjWtHHYs
Representations of both women
AND men in the media are having a
negative impact upon society.
Whilst this lecture focuses on
women I acknowledge the negative
impacts of the media on boys and
men.

3. MEDIA DEFINITION
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/media

4. WHO WOMEN ARE ACCORDING TO
THE MEDIA

5. THINK BACK…
“You can’t be
what you can’t
see”
Interactive
exercise
-Marie Wilson
White House Project

6. ACCORDING TO MEDIA WOMEN IN
AUSTRALIA ARE…
24% of people who were heard, read about or seen in news stories were
female.
In sports stories this figure fell to 1%
Of the 24% of females in news stories, 44% were victims
In 75% of news articles women were described as homemakers or parents.

7. WOMEN IN PRINT

8. IMPACT OF MISREPRESENTATION
When people are
repeatedly shown images of women as victims,
sexualised, or in domestic roles, they are more
likely to accept these images as normal.
At June 2013, there were 98,900 more females than males residing in
Australia, with 11.5 million males and 11.6 million females.

9. WOMEN’S RIGHTS AS HUMAN
RIGHTS
In Western Australia 92.3% of sexual assaults are
committed against women.
Dr Jean Kilbourne states that “turning a human being into a thing is almost
always the first step in justifying violence against
that person”.
The reality is women are under-represented
at decision-making levels in
every sector of public life in Australia.
Elizabeth Broderick
Sex Discrimination Commissioner and
Commissioner responsible for Age
Discrimination

10. WOMEN IN AUSTRALIAN MEDIA
FOCUS GROUPS
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Women in Sports
Women in Defence Force

11. ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT
ISLANDER PEOPLE
10 week study of representation of Indigenous Australians in the media.
3 Major Newspapers
505 articles
162 articles were sport related
141 articles about politics
78 articles about art
33 articles related to Indigenous health

12. “THEY ARE NOT OUR LEADERS,
THEY DO NOT SPEAK FOR US”
“Perpetuation and promotion of negative and racial
stereotypes, a tendency towards conflictual and
sensationalist reporting on race issues, and an
insensitivity towards, and often ignorance of, minority
cultures", which could "contribute to creating a social
climate which is tolerant of racist violence” Human
Rights Commission (1996)

13. WOMEN IN SPORTS
Table 1: Television news coverage of Australian sport by sport type (per
cent)
Gender Overall ABC1 SBS Channel 7 Channel Nine Channel Ten
Male sport 81.1 80.7 84.8 81.4 78.9 80.9
Female sport 8.7 11.2 8.9 7.8 7.4 8.6
Study over 2008-2009 showed that women made up only 9% of all sports media
coverage in Australian News.

14. UK WOMEN'S SPORT AND FITNESS
FOUNDATION: WOMEN’S SPORT:
SAY YES TO SUCCESS
This report identified three key recommendations for redressing the
imbalance of coverage
- Key stakeholders, such as media companies, commercial partners
and competition organisers need to work together to develop a
regular calendar of high quality events and competitions
- Greater clarity about the characteristics and commercial benefits of
successful women’s sport events and competitions should be
established
- Women’s events and competitions must be developed in a way that
encourages fans to engage and connect with them.

15. ACTION TAKEN
CEDAW
United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All forms of
Discrimination Against Women.
Establishes obligations for the government to help eliminate
discrimination and achieve equality.
CEDAW National Action Plan

16. CHALLENGE YOURSELF - BE A
MEDIA ANALYST
Bechdel Movie Test: The Bechdel Test is used to identify
gender bias in films.
Ask yourself these questions
• How many female characters are there
compared to male characters?
• Is the focus on women’s bodies or on their
characters, achievements or jobs?
• Are women shown as victims of violence?
• Are any female characters leaders – such
as political leaders, business professionals,
employers, or other positions of authority?
• Does the absence of women in these roles
in film and television shows affect women’s
roles in the real world?

17. PARTING THOUGHT
“We must inspire our
women to aspire.”
Suzanne Cory is one of Australia's most acclaimed molecular biologists

18. REFERENCES
Broderick, E. (2011). The State of Gender Equality in Australia. Retrieved from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/speeches/state-gender-equality-australia
Bullimore, K. (1999). Media dreaming: Representation of Aboriginality in modern Australian media. AsiaPacific Media Educator, 6, 72-80.
NSW Sport and Recreation. (n.d.). Media Coverage of Women in Sport [Fact Sheet]. Retrieved from
http://www.dsr.nsw.gov.au/assets/pubs/industry/info_mediawomen.pdf
Paglia, C. (2013) It’s a Man’s World. Retrieved from http://ideas.time.com/2013/12/16/its-a-mans-world-and-it-always-will-be/
Population by Age and Sex, Regions of Australia. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3235.0#PARALINK6
Roberts, J. (2008). Analysis of the representation of Indigenous Australians in mainstream print media: An exploration centred on the social determinants of health.
Retrieved from https://www.lowitja.org.au/sites/default/files/docs/Thesis-UPDATED-08.pdf
The Representation Project: Rewrite the Story. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPAmjWtHHYs
Women and the media. (2014). Retrieved from //www.communities.wa.gov.au/Documents/Women/Women%20in%20the
%20Media%20Discussion%20Paper%20FINAL.pdf
YWCA Australia. (2011). CEDAW Action Plan for Women in Australia. Retrieved from
http://www.ywca.org.au/sites/ywca.org.au/files/CEDAW%20Action%20Plan%20final.pdf