Latest news with #WomeninMedia
West Australian
2 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Women in media unconvinced by gender equality progress
Women are being driven out of the media industry by financial pressures, stalled growth and lack of progress on gender equity. Career dissatisfaction among women has risen to 59 per cent, the highest level in four years, according to the Women in Media Industry Insight Report 2025 released on Monday. Pay has overtaken all other factors as the leading driver of women leaving their jobs, with 29 per cent citing it as their primary concern. One in three women is considering leaving their job and nearly half are looking to exit the industry altogether. Despite law reforms requiring employers to publish gender pay gaps and improve respect in the workplace, 74 per cent of women said their employer had not taken clear action to address pay disparities. Almost 80 per cent said there had been no meaningful improvement to culture or safety in the workplace. The report showed women working in the media were unconvinced about gender equality efforts, lead author and Women in Media strategic advisor Petra Buchanan said. It also showed a disconnect between efforts being made by the industry and how employees perceived them. "The media shapes our public narratives and is pivotal in how women are represented," she told AAP. "There's a lot of conversation about gender equality but women aren't feeling it in the workplace." Nearly 40 per cent of women surveyed were considering quitting, with this trend highest among mid-career and senior women. Lack of opportunities for promotion and managerial support were noted as the top career barriers. There are also major structural imbalances in leadership in Australian media. Despite women making up 41 per cent of the workforce, they hold just 23 per cent of chief executive and managing director roles. The average gender pay gap in the media is 10 per cent, with 16.4 per cent in publishing and 11.8 per cent in broadcasting. "Women are calling on media employers to lead with intent and communicate how they are addressing workplace issues, from closing the gender pay gap to implementing meaningful structural and cultural reform," Ms Buchanan said. "Employer and industry action is essential to address inequity and ensure women thrive. "Now is the time for Australian media organisations to double down, not step back, from their equality commitments."
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Women in media unconvinced by gender equality progress
Women are being driven out of the media industry by financial pressures, stalled growth and lack of progress on gender equity. Career dissatisfaction among women has risen to 59 per cent, the highest level in four years, according to the Women in Media Industry Insight Report 2025 released on Monday. Pay has overtaken all other factors as the leading driver of women leaving their jobs, with 29 per cent citing it as their primary concern. One in three women is considering leaving their job and nearly half are looking to exit the industry altogether. Despite law reforms requiring employers to publish gender pay gaps and improve respect in the workplace, 74 per cent of women said their employer had not taken clear action to address pay disparities. Almost 80 per cent said there had been no meaningful improvement to culture or safety in the workplace. The report showed women working in the media were unconvinced about gender equality efforts, lead author and Women in Media strategic advisor Petra Buchanan said. It also showed a disconnect between efforts being made by the industry and how employees perceived them. "The media shapes our public narratives and is pivotal in how women are represented," she told AAP. "There's a lot of conversation about gender equality but women aren't feeling it in the workplace." Nearly 40 per cent of women surveyed were considering quitting, with this trend highest among mid-career and senior women. Lack of opportunities for promotion and managerial support were noted as the top career barriers. There are also major structural imbalances in leadership in Australian media. Despite women making up 41 per cent of the workforce, they hold just 23 per cent of chief executive and managing director roles. The average gender pay gap in the media is 10 per cent, with 16.4 per cent in publishing and 11.8 per cent in broadcasting. "Women are calling on media employers to lead with intent and communicate how they are addressing workplace issues, from closing the gender pay gap to implementing meaningful structural and cultural reform," Ms Buchanan said. "Employer and industry action is essential to address inequity and ensure women thrive. "Now is the time for Australian media organisations to double down, not step back, from their equality commitments."
The Guardian
11-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Antoinette Lattouf v ABC hearing live: federal court judge ‘deeply unhappy' broadcaster made public an unredacted affidavit
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Justice Darryl Rangiah has opened proceedings by stating he is 'deeply unhappy' that the ABC filed an unredacted version of Chris Oliver-Taylor's affidavit despite a federal court order that the names of the people who complained to the ABC about Antoinette Lattouf should remain private. On Monday the court uploaded an affidavit that was not redacted and the names and details of the Jewish people were made public, before the mistake was realised and the document was taken down. Rangiah says: The court is entitled to expect that the information provided to the court by the parties is accurate. The people who are the subject of the suppression order are entitled to expect that the confidentiality of their identification and contact details will be maintained by the parties. ABC barrister Ian Neil SC apologises for what he says was 'human error': As leading counsel responsible for the presentation of the respondent's case, I stand before you this morning to tender my personal apology for what has happened. Share Former ABC chair Ita Buttrose will be today's star witness There are still five witnesses to give evidence after two days were added to last week's original five-day schedule. The star witness today is former ABC chair Ita Buttrose. The court has previously heard details of emails in which it appears she was urging management to remove Lattouf from air after receiving dozens of complaints about her employment. The former ABC chair Ita Buttrose is due to give evidence today. Photograph: Emma Brasier/Women in Media But first up today is the former head of ABC Sydney local radio Steve Ahern, the man who hired Lattouf for five days in December 2023, a decision described as 'a negligent error of judgement' by the managing director, David Anderson. Last week Anderson told the court he believed Lattouf should never have been appointed as a casual radio host because of her 'partisan view on Israel-Gaza'. On Friday the court heard Chris Oliver-Taylor, the ABC executive who sacked Lattouf for sharing a Human Rights Watch post, felt 'pressure from above' after Buttrose sent him all the complaints she was receiving. 'The pressure was now building, the concerns were rising,' Oliver-Taylor said of the situation on 19 December 2023 after Buttrose wrote to him directly and said she would be forwarding on all complaints she received about Lattouf. To catch up on how things wrapped on Friday, here's our report: Share Lattouf trial reveals an ABC so paralysed by process even its managers can't keep up In case you missed it, Hugh Riminton on Saturday wrote about the first week of the federal court hearing: If one thing has emerged from journalist Antoinette Lattouf's quixotic battle with the ABC over her sacking 14 months ago, it is that the public broadcaster appears to be so weighed down by procedures, policy codes and guidelines that even senior management can't keep up. Read Riminton's take on events here: Share Hi, I'm Amanda Meade, media correspondent at Guardian Australia, and I'll be watching day six of the Antoinette Lattouf v ABC unlawful termination claim. We will bring you all the evidence as it unfolds from 10.15am. Over today and Wednesday we will hear evidence from the remaining five witnesses, all from the ABC: Ita Buttrose, Steve Ahern, Simon Melkman, Ben Latimer and Elizabeth Green. Share
The Guardian
29-01-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Victoria Smillie obituary
My wife, Victoria Smillie, who has died aged 75, was a force of nature. In 1972, under her earlier married name of Lesley Mitchell, she was one of five women (nicknamed the 'Watford Five') invited by the Women in Media group to take on the task of presenting the 'acceptable' face of feminism and women's liberation in lobbying both the media and MPs for the passing of the sex discrimination bill. The five (the others were Eileen Vielvoye, Rosemary Todd, Blanche McCorkell and Pat Howe) were friends who met in Watford to discuss feminism and women's liberation matters and came to wider attention when they were interviewed by the Daily Mirror journalist Marjorie Proops. Then Shirley Conran, who was doing publicity for Women in Media, got in touch and became their campaign manager. They were interviewed by national papers including the Sunday Times, and heard and seen on national broadcasts including Pebble Mill at One, and were instrumental in raising 100,000 signatures in support of the bill. It was passed into law as the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. Victoria was born Lesley Victoria Nelson in Liverpool, the younger daughter of David Nelson, a senior accountant at Henderson's department store, and Jean (nee Anderson). In 1967 she was unceremoniously thrown out of Waterloo Park girls' grammar school when she became pregnant with her first daughter, Cathy, and was thus unable to take her A-level exams. She married soon afterwards, and had another daughter, Jenny – both daughters were born with progressive Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome and became wheelchair users. While raising her children, she found work as a journalist on the Bucks Examiner. When her marriage ended in divorce, she decided to break with the past by changing her name by deed poll to Victoria Smillie, in recognition of her Scottish roots. After moving to East Anglia, she worked on the local paper in Hadleigh, Suffolk, where she also developed a love of amateur dramatics, playing the heroine in a local production of Sweeney Todd. She studied for a history degree at Essex University, graduating in 1981, and at the Henley Business School. Victoria joined BT in 1981, as it became independent from the Post Office, working as a senior manager responsible for the recruitment and training of those 'boffins' who drove the ongoing research into advanced telecommunications technology. She was also a trailblazer in getting disabled people accepted in industry, for which she received a Churchill fellowship. Taking early retirement in 1996, she retrained as a person-centred counsellor at the University of East Anglia, and went on to become senior counsellor at Norwich Union insurance. In 2005 Victoria became the CEO of the Mancroft advice project, and helped its transition into a charity helping address the many needs and issues facing young people in Norwich. She finally retired in 2009. Victoria was a woman of extraordinary drive, wit, fun and empathy for others. She and I met in June 1999 at an Archers Addicts convention in Torquay – I have been playing Mike Tucker on The Archers since 1973. We settled together in Bawburgh, near Norwich, and were married in 2004. She is survived by me and her daughter Jenny, and her sister, Margaret. Cathy died in 2005.
