Women make up less than a quarter of people appearing in Swiss print and online media articles, a figure which has hardly changed since 2015, according to a study.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/dos
Apart from a short-lived small boost in 2019, most likely due to the women’s strike and national elections, the share of women appearing in Swiss media articles has remained around 23%, the University of Zurich said on Thursday.
While the numbers are nearly identical across the German, French, and Italian-speaking regions of the country, they vary more widely when it comes to the type of article, as well as the newspaper in question.
Women are least present in sports (13%) and economics (17%) articles; they most appear in “human interest” (31%) and culture (27%) articles. In politics, they are right on the overall average of 23%.
More
More
Women still struggle to break top ranks in Swiss firms
This content was published on
Women represent half of employees in non-management levels in Switzerland, but promotion rates between men and women remain unequal.
As for individual papers and websites, the WOZ weekly has the highest female presence (29%), ahead of public broadcaster rts.ch (27%) and blick.ch (27%). The Neue Zürcher Zeitung (19%), watson.ch (20%) and the Bund (20%) have the least.
In general, the study also found that women are twice as likely to be cited in articles containing original reporting by a journalist for a media company, rather than in articles based on wire reports by news agencies.
Societal structures
Lisa Schwaiger, a communications expert at the Research Centre for the Public Sphere and Society (Fög Institute), said “the severe underrepresentation of women in Swiss media is a result of prevailing societal structures and journalistic habits”.
Swiss newsrooms, she suggested, can rectify the situation by dedicating more resources to finding women experts, as well as female representatives and voices.
The study used machine learning tools to analyse 106,706 print and online media articles in Switzerland.
More
More
Women artists struggle for visibility in Swiss museums
This content was published on
Male artists far outnumber their female counterparts in Swiss art museums, our research shows.
Swiss foreign minister backs Berset at Council of Europe
This content was published on
Cassis described Berset as the "ideal candidate" to help the Council realise its aim of ensuring security and peace in Europe.
Gay conversion therapy banned in Swiss canton of Valais
This content was published on
On Thursday, the canton approved a new Health Act which includes a ban on therapies aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity.
This content was published on
Some aspects of pro-Palestine sit-ins have gone too far, but the right to protest and debate must be upheld, the student association has said.
Swiss LGTBIQ helpline: attacks more than doubled in 2023
This content was published on
Three organisations jointly operating a helpline have called for more awareness, action and funding to address discrimination.
This content was published on
Switzerland's economy grew slightly at the start of 2024, with growth in the service sector contrasting with weak growth in industry.
Swiss employment rate rises in first quarter of 2024
This content was published on
The number of women and foreign nationals in employment increased particularly strongly, the Federal Statistical Office said on Thursday.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Government minister calls for media quality and diversity
This content was published on
In a wide-ranging interviewExternal link on Monday with the Watson news platform and several regional newspapers, Leuthard said a dominant role for a single player in the media sector was not desirable. “It must be the goal to secure diversity and quality in the media for democratic reasons,” she said. Leuthard also expressed concern about…
This content was published on
The average annual gross salary in Switzerland stood at CHF68,200 last year. But the gender pay gap has scarcely narrowed.
What does diversity mean for public service media?
This content was published on
For World Radio Day, we joined forces with other public service media to discuss what role diversity has in the content we publish and in how we work.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.