The media sector in Flanders is dominated by men – only one-third of Flemish journalists are female. It is not that women are not interested in journalism, and in the age group below 35, those interested in journalism is almost 45 per cent. This could be a healthy sign indicating that the gender gap is, albeit slowly, closing one step at a time. Another less positive possibility, meanwhile, is that female journalists end their journalistic careers at a fairly young age. Explanations are the glass ceiling that still exists and the hardship of combining the journalism profession with a family life. Male journalists earn considerably more than their female colleagues. In 2018, male Belgian journalists had, according to self-reported data, an average monthly net wage of EUR 2,439, while this was only EUR 2,147 for female journalists, reflecting a 12 per cent difference. The divide also persists in career opportunities: Over 70 per cent of management positions in news media were observed to be filled by male journalists, with the management of public broadcaster VRT being a notable and visible exception (Van Leuven et al., 2019).
The facts above are in stark contrast with the statements of the interviewed journalists – unfortunately nearly all of whom were male – who all claimed that equal conditions of employment and benefits for both genders were ensured and even enshrined in regulations, codes, and guidelines. However, no existence of specific mechanisms such as gender equality advisors or departments or female journalists’ associations were reported at private companies. There was also no legal framework regarding gender equality at the Flemish or federal Belgian political level. This includes the official Flemish Journalism Code, which only mentions gender once in its entirety, and specifically only at the level of news reporting, and not for journalists. The Flemish public broadcaster VRT similarly has gender quotas for the presence of women in management roles and in viewpoint for diversity on screen, but not for female journalists in their workforce. It also has its own designated diversity unit and ethics officer. VRT joined the BBC’s “50:50 The Equality Project” recently, which is committed to inspiring and supporting media organisations around the globe to consistently create journalism and media content that fairly represents our world. Hence, striving for an equal share of men and women in news is reflected (BBC, 2021).
