N.z. News Media ‘male-dominated’ (Press, 1 July 1980)

On 1 July 1980, Ms. Marilyn Waring, the member of Parliament for Waipa, addressed a meeting of women from service organisations in Christchurch, highlighting the male dominance within the New Zealand news media. She referenced her participation in the Commission on the Status of Women held in Vienna earlier that year and discussed the upcoming United Nations Decade for Women conference in Copenhagen. Ms. Waring pointed out the media's role in perpetuating stereotypes that portray women primarily as housewives, sex objects, and consumers. Despite the increasing number of women reporters, she noted that men held all the decision-making positions in television, broadcasting, and newspapers, emphasising that all 36 daily newspaper editors in New Zealand were men. She urged attendees to consider this imbalance when questioning biases present in the news media. Supporting her claims, Mrs. G. Hollander, the past president of the National Council of Women, remarked on the delayed coverage of the delegation attending the Copenhagen conference, stating that the announcement appeared in "The Press" two days later and was absent from the evening paper entirely. Ms. Waring expressed her satisfaction with the New Zealand Government's decision to send a delegation of 12 women to the Copenhagen conference, marking it as the largest delegation from New Zealand to any United Nations forum, and noted the diverse interests represented within the group.

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