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Women, journalism and COVID-19

Credits Greg Johnson Penn Today


There is a missing perspective in COVID-19 news and that is of women. 
Women have been left out of many things over the years. Although there is now more equality between genders than there was 50 years ago, we have not reached total equality yet. The gender pay gap still exists. There is an enormous underrepresentation of women in the news. Take the coronavirus, for example. 

A report commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "uncovers a substantial bias towards men’s perspectives in both newsgathering and news coverage of the pandemic, spanning across all regions." It demonstrates the gravity of the exclusion. Across the globe, women have been left out of crucial decisions related to the coronavirus, so what happened to equality? Statistics from AKAS analysis show that in England, there is not one woman in the COVID-19 response decision-making bodies. Countries like the US and Nigeria follow closely with the majority of those decision-making bodies also being men. 

                                                                                                


In the UK, men are far more likely to die from the virus. However, could this be due to their anatomy or the fact that women are more likely to social distance and follow the rules? In a study conducted by New York University and Yale University, researchers discovered that women took better care of their health and adhered to guidelines given by medical experts more than men did. Therefore, if women act more sensibly when it comes to the virus, why is it predominantly men making the decisions? Even when it comes to expert voices, women scientists are sadly being marginalised and one stated "As women who are deeply involved with COVID-19 science, it has become clear to us that our expertise means little when it comes to real decision-making in this public health emergency." It shouldn't matter if science comes from a man or a woman, science is science. 

This issue doesn't end here. Even in the media when reporting on COVID-19 news, women are not taken as seriously as men are. Men seem to be the experts and protagonists whilst women are more likely to be used as sources of subjective views rather than as authoritative experts. Gender equality coverage is also virtually absent from COVID-19 news. 

The absence of women's perspectives in COVID-19-related news coverage means that without intervention, women will be left misunderstood. A very detrimental consequence of this is that the public could get desensitised by the news and deem this inequality as normal. Women can have just as important roles as men do.

As this pandemic continues, journalists have a pivotal role to play in ensuring the gender equality polemic moves forward. Journalists should be aware of the bias that exists and shouldn't play into the bias, but challenge it so that women's stories are just as important as men's. 

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