Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697748286210.pdf (India)
1 2 Acknowledgement The Centre for Human Development, Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) is grateful to the Ministry of Women and Child Development for giving us the opportunity to conduct a one year study to assess gender mainstreaming within organisations and in the content of the print media in four cities of India to understand.

The study was conducted in 10 print media organisations in each of the four cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
We express our sincere gratitude to the respondents from each of the print media organisations in each city who participated in the survey and shared their valuable insights and experiences.
Finally, the team acknowledges with gratitude the support it received from Professor Paramita Dasgupta, Former Director General I/C (ASCI), Professor Nirmlaya Bagchi, Dean, Research and Studies, Professor Lakshmi B., Director, Centre for Human Development and other officials at various levels in ASCI for the successful completion of the study.
3 Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Methodology Chapter 3: Key findings from Delhi Chapter 4: Key findings from Mumbai Chapter 5: Key findings from Kolkata Chapter 6: Key findings from Hyderabad Chapter 7: Summary and Conclusion Annexure 1: Questionnaire 4-15 16-22 23-39 40-57 58-74 75-90 91-97 98-102 4 Chapter 1 Introduction SETTING THE SCENE Amartya Sen in his book Development as Freedom 1 has argued development cannot be judged merely by increase in gross national product (GNP) or technological progress.
Development should be understood and judged from the perspective of whether human beings have the freedom to what they have reason to value.

In other words freedom of expression and freedom of speech are salient constituents of development.

In this context, media plays a very important role.

Media keeps people informed of what is going on where.

It makes people aware of the miseries and deprivations of various kinds suffered by humanity and ways in which these can be mitigated.
Moreover media serves as a platform for public discussion and arguments which further shape public perception of „basic need‟, civil rights and democratic values.

In the article on Speaking of Freedom: Why Media is Important for Economic Development2, Sen remarked media is a great ally of the process of development and plays a vital role in value formation of the society.

Further the presence of range of media helps in greater coverage and diversity.
In 2010, the Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Rights to Freedom and Expression stated that there is an undeniable link between freedom of expression and gender equality.

However, equal enjoyment of right to freedom of expression has remained elusive historically for many disadvantaged groups; women being one among them.

They still struggle to have their voices heard and access information of their choice.
However it has been widely recognised that in order to enjoy freedom of expression, gender equality and human rights both men and women should be 1Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (Oxford, 1999) 2 Amartya Sen, “Speaking of Freedom: Why Media is Important for Economic Development,” in Antara dev Sen and Pratick Kanjilal ed., Country of First Boys (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2015); 90-92 5 able equally participate in the media in different roles and in different levels, express themselves through the media and be able to control the content of the media.
While it cannot be discounted that media by presenting diverse points of views give voice to many distinct perspectives, it is perhaps pertinent to flag at this juncture that media has also been criticised for inadequate coverage of issues pertinent to women and the thematic bias and stereotypical representation of the group.

Media, especially print media is no exception.


If media mirrors society and plays a critical role in shaping public opinion; it is essential that it should uphold and promote gender equality which is a fundamental human right.

In all forms of media, including print media this means two things – promotion of gender equality both within the work environment as well as in the representation of women.
Although International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Labour Organisations (ILO), UNESCO and other bodies of United Nations espouse principles of gender equality both at work and in the content of the media; studies have shown we still have a long way to go.

The next segment discusses representation of gender at two levels – a) within the organisation and b) in the content of the media, especially print media.
WOMEN AND MEDIA Globally, since 1970s there have been formal attempts to deal with gender inequalities through various political, legislative means and resolutions passed by the Economic and Social Council and the United Nations General Assembly.3 However, it was the fourth world conference of women held in Beijing in 1995 (on the threshold of the new millennium) which 3 The First World Conference for Women was held in Mexico City in 1975.
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 1975 as the International Women‟s Year and stated that the year will be devoted to promoting equality between men and women and integrating women in all development efforts.

Subsequently, world conferences on women were held in 1980 (Copenhagen) and 1985 (Nairobi).

Both the conferences addressed the necessity for realization of all human rights and fundamental freedom for girls and women for the true empowerment of women.
In addition, the International Year for the World‟s Indigenous People, the International Year of the Family, the Geneva Declaration for Rural Women, and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women also emphasized the issues of women‟s empowerment and equality.

6 initiated a radical agenda for change.

The most significant aspect of the Beijing Conference was identifying the critical areas of concern in a single document known as the Beijing Platform for Action (BfA).
The Beijing Platform for Action described the areas where priority actions need to be taken in the new millennium and this document became the blueprint of gender equality adopted by all member countries of the United Nations.

12 critical areas were identified by the Beijing Platform for Action; women and media being one of them.

The Beijing Declaration recognised that media has immense potential to impact public policy as well as contribute towards advancement of women.
The Declaration states: Media has the potential to make a far greater contribution to the advancement of women.
4 In order to address the issues of: a) low visibility of women in the decisions making and governing bodies of media organisations and b) lack of gender sensitivity in the portrayal of women in the media; the Declaration emphasised on two strategic objectives in the area of women and media:5 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: Increase the participation and access of women to expression to expression and decision- making in and through the media and new technologies of communication STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: Promote a balance and non- stereotyped picture of women in the media  Location of women in the media Women‟s location in the media industry has been subject to several global level studies since the 1970s.
In 1987, UNESCO published Women and Media Decision-making: The Invisible Barriers.

This was a five country study (Canada, Ecuador, Egypt, India and Nigeria) which examined the role of women in senior positions in the media industry.

The study sought to highlight how attitude, perceptions of men led to indirect discrimination against women and prevented them from advancing to senior decision making positions in the media organisations.
4 http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/BDPfA%20E.pdf; p99 5 Ibid,p100-101 7 In 1995, Unfinished Story: Gender Patterns in Media Employment was published by UNESCO.

This was one of the first national studies to treat the issue of gender in media employment on a global scale.

The study with its gender-differentiated statistics from different regions made an important effort to highlight the status of women in media.

The study was carried out in 83 countries in over 250 organisations.
The study addressed issues such as importance of women in media, visibility and vulnerability of women, pattern of employment of women in media, gendered division of labour, women in media hierarch and obstacles to employment of women in the media.
The report set the agenda for government and professional media organisations to take measures to include equal opportunity programs for increase participation of women in the media as well as enhance access of women to decision making bodies in the media organisations.6 In 2000, gender mainstreaming assumed greater importance with the launch of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Gender was a cross cutting theme in all the 8 development goals.
In order to integrate gender efficiently and effectively at workplace ILO developed a participatory tool to assess ways in which organisation can mainstream gender in order to help achieve equality between men and women at work.

In 2001, ILO adopted participatory gender audits, an internal assessment, to promote gender responsiveness at workplace.

 Gender audit as a tool of organisational assessment Gender audit is a form of social audit.
Gender audits provide a means of analyzing gender issues at the level of policy, structure, legislation, budgets and personnel, including people‟s perception and understanding of gender in their own institutions as well as the about the equal participation in decision making processes.
The aim of participatory gender audit was to -  Analyse gender issues within organisations in relation to, for example, flexible working hours for both women and men, childcare provision, and policies that encourage more flexible gender roles;  Mainstreaming of gender equality in all mainstream policies, and creating requirements for gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation systems;  Human resources, including issues such as gender equity in recruitment;  Technical capacity of staff in gender issues, and internal capacity building; 6 UNESCO, Unfinished Story: Gender Patterns in Media Employment, (2015); p5 8  Allocation of financial resources to gender mainstreaming efforts or women-focused initiatives;  Organisational culture, including a culture of participation and consultation The primary objective of such gender audits is to facilitate an organization to identify its capacity and commitment to provide equal opportunities to both men and women in its various activities, assess whether there exists a favourable work culture which promotes gender equality.
A gender audit helps an organization to design gender sensitive action plans and/or monitoring systems.

Another significant feature of gender audit is it enables an organization to measure the actual impacts of gender mainstreaming programmes on male and female beneficiaries.7 The Beijing Platform for Action‟s section on women and media gave a fillip to the body of research on women‟s occupational status in media industries.
The Millennium Development Goals further acted as catalyst for assessing gender sensitivity of media organisations.

Studies in subsequent years have pointed out that similar invisible barriers, often referred to as the glass ceiling and also to more overt forms of discrimination which have persisted against women in media across countries and over time.
In 2008, UNESCO developed a set of indicators to monitor and evaluate the development of media landscape of a country in terms of women‟s involvement in management structures, together with an exploration of gender- equality policies and practices.8 Since 2008, many media organisations have used indicators developed by UNESCO or by ILO to assess the gender sensitivity of their respective organisations.
In 2012, a report titled Gender Pay Gap in Journalism9 highlighted while there has been increased participation of women as journalists; nowhere does women‟s pay and benefits equal those of their male counterpart.
The study which was carried out in 16 countries showed that a) women journalists are paid 17% less than male colleagues in Europe, 9% less in former Soviet Union countries and 4% less in South America; b) women journalists receive less employment benefits (such as health insurance, pension and holiday allowance); 7 Annalise Moser, Gender and Indicators.

An Overview Report (Sussex: Institute of Development Studies, 2007), 19.
8 UNESCO, Media development Indicators: A Framework for Assessing Media Development, 2008 9 https://www.loonwijzer.nl/home/documents/120307-IFJ-WageIndicator-PayGap-Journos-2009- 2011.pdf 9 c) fewer women than men experience shifts or irregular working time, work on Saturdays, Sundays, or in the evenings, and do teleworking; and d) fewer women with fulltime and permanent contracts in the European Union and Central and South America.
In addition recent large scale studies entitled Global Report on Status of Women in the News Media (2011)10; Inside the News: Challenges and Aspirations for Women Journalists in Asia and the Pacific (2015)11 and Status of Women in US Media (2015)12show while on one hand representation of women have increased in reporting, in editorial positions, online content producers, as videographers and photographers; on the other systemic discrimination still persists in the form of absence of women-friendly policies and work schedule, sexual harassment at work, wage gap between men and women and confinement of women into reporting on „soft‟ subjects such as social issues, art and entertainment in comparison to hard news.
 Gender audit of media organisations in India: An overview The media is rapidly growing in India, with even daily newspapers registering increases in circulation and revenues, unlike the trend in western media where newspaper readership is falling sharply.

As per Registrar for Newspapers in India, 1,05,443 newspapers/periodicals were registered in 2015-2016.

Most number of newspapers/ periodicals are registered in Hindi (42493) followed by English (13661), Marathi (7818), Gujarati (4836) and Urdu (4770).
Newspapers are registered in a total of 23 different languages.

The lowest number are registered in Dogri Language (2), followed by Kashmiri (5) and Bodo (5).13 As the data indicates, print media is a huge industry with wider coverage and scope for employment.

In 2005, the National Commission for Women undertook a national level study to understand the status of women in print media.

The study was conducted in all the states and UTs.


The objective was to map the problems women face at workplace, analyse direct and indirect discrimination women are subjected to in the print media and identify areas of intervention to make workplace gender sensitive.
Major issues which were flagged by women respondents 10 https://www.iwmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/IWMF-Global-Report-Summary.pdf 11 http://www.ifj.org/uploads/media/Inside_the_News_FINAL_040615_UNESDOC.pdf 12 https://wmc.3cdn.net/83bf6082a319460eb1_hsrm680x2.pdf 13 International Federation of Journalists, „Media and Gender in India,‟ 2015; 3 10 were – lack of training to hone leadership skills, absence of adequate mentoring and opportunities to climb up the ladder, lack of supportive basic amenities, leave, policy of sexual harassment and grievance redressal mechanisms.
After a decade, in 2015, the International Federation of Journalists published a special report on Media and Gender in Asia Pacific Region.

The larger report was divided into several country reports, one was on India entitled „Media and Gender in India‟.

The study was carried out in both print and electronic media and addresses issues such as working conditions of journalists, patterns of employment, wages, benefits, career opportunities and choices.
The study showed that in the last three decades there has been substantial increase in the participation of women in all forms of media.

While even today they constitute a minority group in the media sector, they have both opportunities and visibility.
The salient issues highlighted by the female respondents in this survey were – lack of representation of women in governing boards, gender discrimination in wages, lack of provision of maternity leave, no transport facilities if working at night, sexual harassment at workplace etc.

It was alarming to note that even after a decade the issues flagged by female journalists have not undergone much change.
GENDER IN THE NEWS: AN OVERVIEW Media, as discussed earlier, has a strong influence on the ways our social perceptions, ideas and values.

It is perhaps one of the most powerful institutions which infuse messages into the social consciousness of people and impact their ideas about gender – roles, responsibilities and norms for men and women.

Unfortunately, media more often than not perpetuate unrealistic, stereotypical and limiting perceptions of men and women.
They reflect and sustain socially endorsed views of gender, emphasize traditional roles and sometimes contribute to normalizing violence against women.

Despite this penetrating influence of the media, there were few studies which documented the portrayal of gender in a country‟s media scene and captured the changing patterns in the representation and themes pertaining to gender.

In this light the Global Gender Monitoring Project (GGMP) was a noteworthy contribution which began in 1995.
GGMP is a flagship project of the World Association of Christian 11 Communication (WACC).14 WACC is a non-governmental organisation which works in the domain of communication rights in order to promote social justice.

It runs a knowledge, information and resource portal on gender and media called Who makes the news?

GGMP is WACC‟s media monitoring and advocacy initiative aimed at changing the representation of women in the media.
It has been conducting one of the largest longitudinal study on gender and media every five years since the Beijing Declaration in 1995.

The first study of the GGMP aimed at the following –  Develop grassroots research instrument  Build solidarity among gender and communication groups worldwide  Create media awareness  Develop media monitoring skills on an international level In 2000, WACC coordinated a more extensive GGMP.
This study included new areas of concern keeping in mind the goals of MDG and attempted to understand representation of gender in those critical areas.

In 2005 (on the 10th Anniversary of Beijing Platform for Action), the Global Gender Monitoring Project published its third report.

It painted a very dismal picture of gender inprint media.

As per the report, women are dramatically under-represented in the news.
Only 21% of news subjects – the people who are interviewed, or whom the news is about – are female.

Women‟s points of view are rarely heard in the topics that dominate the news agenda; even in stories that affect women profoundly, such as gender-based violence, it is the male voice (64% of news subjects) that prevails.

When women do make the news it is primarily as „stars‟ or „ordinary people‟, not as figures of authority.

As newsmakers, women are under- represented in professional categories.
As authorities and experts, women barely feature in news stories.

While the study found a few excellent examples of exemplary gender-balanced and gender-sensitive journalism, it demonstrated an overall glaring deficit in the news media globally, with half of the world‟s population barely present.

15 The current report of the GGMP published in 2015 provides another opportunity to assess the progress made with regard to media and gender equality and identify both persistent and emerging challenges.
Data was collected from 114 countries along the following parameters – people in the news, stories which highlight gender inequality, stories which highlight 14 http://whomakesthenews.org/about-us/Gender-and-Communication 15 http://whomakesthenews.org/gmmp 12 gender related policies, stories which feature women as central characters, roles in which women appear in the news, percentage of women as reporters and presenters and others.
In 2015, unfortunately women made up only 24% of heard or read about, exactly the same as 2010.

Although news stories acknowledge participation of women in the labour force, reporting on them and discussions on challenges faced by them were low.

Women are more than four times likely to be depicted as survivors of violence.

16 The study showed that while there has been an increase in the percentage of stories on gender inequality over the last decade; however percentage of stories on women was still low.
The overall trend depicted by the study was persistence of unequal gender power relations in which gender stereotypes are reinforced and perpetuated.

 Situation in India Globalisation, various social movements and changes in the discourse of development have ensured that an increase in the representation of women in the media – as media professionals, as sources of news or as subjects.

Absence of women from pages of news was a problem in the late 90s.
Today all forms of media, including newspaper is replete with images and references to women.

The question today therefore is not „where are women?‟ rather the focus is on „who are these women?‟ „which stories of women are being covered, why and how are they covered?‟ Over the years there have been several studies examining the representation of gender in media.

Ammu Joseph and Kalpana Sharma conducted one of the most exhaustive studies in this area in 1996.
A decade later in 2006 they published Whose News?

The Media and the Women’s Issues.

Joseph and Sharma argued there is a growing awareness about women‟s related issues in the media.

Hence unlike the later 90s, women are longer absent from the content of various forms of media, including newspapers.

The various forms of media are replete with images and references to women.
The question today therefore is not „where are the women?‟ but „who are these women‟ and „what stories of women are covered, how and why?‟ Findings of their study showed first, women are predominantly and consistently covered in the domains of lifestyle, art & culture, health, entertainment.
The second way that women get featured is by being stylish philanthropist, socialite or successful movie star, entrepreneur, 16 http://cdn.agilitycms.com/who-makes-the-news/Imported/reports_2015/highlights/highlights_en.pdf 13 sports personality or models.

The third way women make it to the pages of news is as survivors of various forms of violence.
The paradox of such categories of representation is that it appears women either have to be either achievers or survivors of violence to be featured in the news/features segment.

Such categorisations obliterate the fact that woman is a heterogeneous category and so her lived experiences are also diverse.

Woman as citizen with right to freedom of expression doesnot get articulated in the media.

Also majority of these stories are urban centric.


The systemic discrimination faced by women or the voice of the rural, poor, marginalised woman is seldom addressed.

This trend was discernible not only in the English language press but also in regional press.

Maitrayee Chaudhuri in her article on Feminism in Print Media (2000)17 and later on Joseph and Sharma (2006) argue the print media underwent dramatic transformations with the onset of liberalisation.
The advertisers/ sponsors lay down the rules news and feature stories in the print media (both English and vernacular).

Hence issues such as child rearing, domesticity, professional image building which promote products and increase sales predominantly find mention in the print media.
It was significant to note that while press doest not openly neglect of trivialise women‟s issues, violations of human rights interests of minorities and marginalised classes; the preoccupation of the print media remains with the urban, middle class and the ruling class.
In 2015, the country report on India published by International Journalists Federation although showed changes in the representation of women both within and in the content of media in terms of coverage of gender related topics; the underlined ideology of the print media has not undergone radical change.

THE STUDY The year 2015 was witness to a series of critical events such as 20th anniversary of Beijing Platform for Action, end of Millennium Goals and onset of Sustainable Development Goals.
The landmark agreement of Agenda 2030 provided global leaders with unprecedented opportunities to design and develop action plans for the next 15 years to place their respective 17 Maitrayee Chaudhuri, “Feminism in Print Media,” Indian Journal for Gender Studies, vol 7, 2000; 265-267.

14 countries on to a path of growth which is rights-based, inclusive, transformational and sustainable.

Gender is a cross cutting theme in all the 17 goals of sustainable development.
The framework of SDG accepts that promotion of gender equality is dependent on the creation of conducive and enabling environment where all people can enjoy their fundamental citizenship rights, enhance their capabilities and get opportunities to lead better lives.
Given the importance of media as a critical social actor who has the power to facilitate social development as well as create an enabling environment for empowerment of women, it becomes imperative to assess both the gender portrayal of the media content as well as the gender sensitivity of organizations.
It is against this background that Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad undertook a study to critically examine the gender sensitivity of print media organisations as well as the content of the media in 2016.

This is a one year study which was carried out in four cities of India – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad and supported by Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The broad objectives of the study were – a) Analyse the process of gender mainstreaming in organizations b) Examine the level of awareness about gender related issues and policies among journalists c) Document the changes in coverage and representation of gender in the print media d) Identify areas of intervention within organizations to promote decent work agenda (goal 8 of SDG) The uniqueness of the study lies in the fact that it interviewed both men and women in an organisation to understand their perspectives and awareness about gender, gender issues, their concerns about their own workplace and ways in which it could be made more inclusive.
The second salient feature of the study was to cover more vernacular media organisations over English language press; as the later is covered in most of the studies conducted in India.

15 Third, the study looks into mainstreaming of gender within both workplace and content of the media.

With regard to content of the media, the study seeks to capture the positive changes which have come about in reporting, coverage and representation of gender issues.
And finally, the study has tried to elicit responses from the respondents regarding strategies their respective organisations should adopt to achieve SDG 8.

16 Chapter 2 Methodology The findings of this study conducted across four geographic regions of India, offer a detailed picture of women‟s in the Indian print media ownership, publishing, reporting and editing.
A mixed research methodology has been adopted for carrying out this study whereby both qualitative and quantitative data have been collected and analyzed.

The qualitative data was essentially collected from secondary sources such as reports, relevant journal articles and books at international and national levels.

The literature review had a twofold approach.


Given the objectives of the study which sought to critically analyse – (i) the print media as an organization,and (ii) the content of the product of the print media; one part of the literature review dealt with gender audit of organizations, especially media while the other reviewed articles of portrayal of women‟s rights in newspapers.

Quantitative data was collected through on-field survey.
The study covered the four cities of India (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad),and in each city, 10 print media houses were selected for the survey for a total of forty print media houses.

Prior to the initiation of the survey, a brainstorming session was held with senior journalists from Hyderabad and Kolkata in the months of April and May 2016.

The purpose of this brainstorming exercise was to ensure that the study addressed critical issues related to workplace, as well as content of the newspaper.
Significant concepts and issues which emerged in the course ofthis exercise and the literature review hereafter, werecarefully included in the questionnaire for the survey.

18 The questions in the survey questionnaire were robust enough to extract information pertaining to the objectives of the study.
The study conducted was rooted in sound social perspective, keeping in mind the 2030 Agenda, and has attempted to answer questions pertaining to individual awareness, organizational awareness and culture, and gender policy.

The questionnaire included open ended as well as close ended questions and was broadly divided into three segments – 18 The survey covered regional newspaper houses in all the four cities.

Accordingly, the questionnaire in English was also translated into Hindi and Telugu.
17 (a) Review of gender mainstreaming in organizations – issues addressed in this segment were – representation of women in committees in an organisation, editorial positions, decision making bodies of organisation, union; beats covered by men and women and opportunities given to women to cover any beat; gender sensitive reporting guidelines, infrastructural facilities in an organisation, leave policy, work environment, policy on anti-discrimination and harassment.
In this segment, we also tried to examine the role of the organisation in implementing the various provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013.

Hence, there were questions on awareness about the Act, Internal Complaints Committee, procedure to lodge a complaint, and so on.
(b) Individual awareness about gender issues and policies – to map the level of awareness of media people (male and female) about gender, there were questions on gender and new national and international policies; participation in gender related workshops/training programs.
(c) Positive changes in reporting, writing and representation of gender in newspaper – to understand the ways in which newspapers are trying to break gender stereotypes and contributing towards the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women.

Sample Size and Sampling Method Initially we followed a random sampling process to select the print media organizations.

However, when we did not receive positive response for the survey then we changed our selection process of print media organizations.
Instead of random sampling method, we chose purposive sampling method and selected print media houses (both English and vernacular) in each city, based on their acceptance to the terms of the survey.

We conducted survey in only those print media houses which allowed us to conduct survey among their employees (male and female).

In total, 196 responses were recorded using a six-page questionnaire.
Information was collected through face-to-face interviews, telephonic interviews and, also through online formats.

Care was taken to distinguish between the information obtained from the vernacular print media houses as compared to the mainstream English print media houses.It was felt that 18 similar studies on national English dailies had been conducted in the past.
Hence, emphasis was placed on the vernacular print media and as the table below (Table 1) indicates, in each city, a conscious effort was made to include more vernacular print media houses.

In fact, this is a very, unique feature of our study.

Table 1: List of print media organisations City English Print Media House Regional Print Media House Hyderabad Telangana Today No.

of respondents - 52 Hans India New Indian Express Mumbai No.

of respondents – 43 Femina Hitvada Delhi Outlook India No.
of respondents- 54 Hindustan Times The Mint News Trust India Deccan Herald The Hindu The Telegraph India Today Business Economics Kolkata No.
of respondents-47 Siasat Andhra Jyothi Mana Telangana Nava Telangana Namasthe Telangana Dainik Bhaskar PrajaSjakti Lokmat Punyanagri Loksatta Sakal Deshonati Dainik Bhaskar DainikMahasagar Tarun Bharat Navbharat Times Hindustan Amar Ujala Dainik Jagran AnandabazarPatrika Sangbad Pratidin Bartaman Aajkal EiSomoy Sanmarg AkhbariMashrique 19 Data Collection The process of networking with the print media houses in the cities of Hyderabad and Kolkata started in the month of end May/early June 2016.
Mails (both electronic and by post) were sent to the Human Resource (HR) Department of several print media houses in the cities of Hyderabad and Kolkata, to obtain approvals to conduct the study in their respective organisations.

As per the ToR of the study, the aim was to conduct the survey among a 10 percent sample of the total number of employees working in these houses.
While few of the print media houses in the proposed cities agreed to the terms of the survey; many of the organisations did not respond favourably.

The research team persisted (sometimes even through the editorial team), but with mixed success.

This was one of the major challenges that we faced while carrying out the study, whereby, the data collection process was significantly delayed.
Moreover, the data available for the study was extremely heterogeneous; some only of journalists and some which comprised of all categories of employees in the organisation.

Given this circumstance, to maintain homogeneity and uniformity in the data set, and to make the study viable, certain modifications were made in our existing methodology.
It was decided to restrict the survey to 10 percent of the total number of journalists (both male and female - reporters and those working at the desk) working in various departments across levels of the organisation (top management - decision making levels, middle level management, and also, at the entry level).

We used the responses elicited from the journalists as a proxy for the entire organisational data.
Each of the print media houses in our sample (where we have conducted the survey), had approximately about 90 journalists on their payroll.

15-20 questionnaires were sent to each house to be distributed among the journalists employed in the organisation.

Even Editors and Bureau Chiefs of various print media houses in the four cities were approached (through personal contacts) to obtain successful survey responses.
In the first phase, the project team could reach out to only 6-7 print media houses in the proposed cities.

By the second phase (November 2016 onwards), we could reach out to the remaining print media houses in our sample.
20 In addition, we have carried out certain in-depth interviews of the people at the top management which have helped us develop an understanding about the ideology of the organisation, the changes at the level of policy and the strategies which they would adopt in future to make their respective organisations inclusive and gender sensitive.
Even though each media house was sent close to 15 questionnaires, for a total of 600 expected responses, we received only 196 valid responses which represents only 32.7% response rate.

Of the total respondents, 95 were males and 101 were females.

They were further classified based on their age, education and rank.
Basic Profile of respondents 50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Figure 2.1: Age Distribution 48% 36% 41% 35% 18% 11% 12% Male Female 1% 25-34 35-44 45-54 55& above Age It was observed that about 42% of the respondents belonged to the (25 – 34) year age group, about 38% to the (35 – 44) year age group, 14% to the (45 – 54) year age group and about 6% above 55 years.
It may well be mentioned here that among all the female respondents, 89% were below the age of 45 years, whereas, the corresponding figure for males was 72%.

However, only 12% of the female respondents were found to be in the 45 years and above category.

The corresponding figure for males was almost 30%.

This is indicative that representation of women continues to be low in senior management in comparison to men (city wise findings will suggest in the subsequent chapters).
21 Figure 2.2: Highest Educational Qualification 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Post Graduation Graduation 69% 31% Male 81% 19% Female Of all the respondents, 77% were post graduates.

Among them 69% were males and 81% female.


Figure 2.3: Professional course in mass communication/ journalism 91% 73% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 65% 46% 53% 52% 71% 65% 67% 62% Male Female Delhi Hyderabad Kolkata Mumbai India As the above figure suggests - 62% of males and 67% of female respondents had completed some professional training in mass communication/journalism.
22 figure 2.4: Designation of respondents 52% 42% 33% 23% 23% 21% Male Female 4% 2% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Senior managementMiddle managementJunior management Administration, photographers As figure 2.4 illustrates, of all the respondents 33% male and 23% female were in senior management, 23% male and 21% female were in middle management, 42% male and 52% female were in the junior level of management.

The study also included people from administration and photographers as respondents.
Our research indicates that 33% of the top management positions were occupied by males (even though they constituted 48% of the total sample), as compared to females, who occupied only 23% of the senior positions (while constituting 52% of the total sample).

On the other hand, in terms of junior level employees, it is observed that women occupy about 52% of the positions, compared to men who occupy 42% of the junior management positions.
23 Chapter 3 Key findings from Delhi As described in the chapter on methodology, the survey questionnaire tried to analyse gender sensitivity and gender mainstreaming of the organisation at two levels.

Hence the questionnaire was divided into two segments.
While one part of the questionnaire included questions on gender mainstreaming at levels of policy, human resource, workplace culture and capacity building; the other part consisted of questions on how newspapers are challenging gender stereotypes, positive trends in reporting, representation and coverage on gender, new gender-related topics which find mention, gender related campaigns undertaken by newspapers.
MAINSTREAMING GENDER: ORGANISATIONAL POLICY Gender policy is a formal commitment of an organisation to effectively mainstream gender in all its processes.

The existence of a gender policy is indicative of an organisation‟s acknowledgment of principles of equality, equity, diversity, participation and partnership.
Figure 3.1: Gender policy in organisation 70% 52% 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 30% 13% 17% 17% Male Female Yes No Not aware 24 The findings indicate that many print media organisations (both national and regional) have a gender policy.

70% male and 52% female respondents said they are aware of the existence of such a policy.

This is indeed positive as it shows the zeal of the organisation to address gender in its various components which include administrative as well as programmatic.
However 30% female respondents said there is no such policy in their organisations.

There are informal guidelines with regard to how to report on gender issues especially on violence against women; but no formal policy exists at the organisational level.

GENDER AND LEADERSHIP One of the key indicators of an organisation‟s commitment to gender mainstreaming is adequate representation of women in all the verticals of the organization as well as in key decision making bodies/ leadership positions.
Accordingly we included questions in the research instrument to analyse the representation of women in the governing body, top management/ editorial positions and in administration of an organisation.

Figure 3.2 : Women in governing board/ Executive Committee 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 63% 57% 35% 37% Male Female 9% 0% Yes No Not aware As is evident from figure 3.2 while 63% male said there are women in the executive committee of their organisation, only 35% female respondents replied in the affirmative.
The findings on the representation of women in leadership position within organisations, therefore, are not very encouraging.

A large percentage of female respondents (57%), especially from the regional print media organisations pointed out that there are no women in the governing body.

According to them most of the decision making bodies are male dominated with token representation of women in some cases.
25 About 40% respondents said there are more women in leadership positions in administration, finance and marketing departments of the organisation.

It is essential to have women in such critical departments as this group of people play a crucial role in strategic decision making and organizational performance.
Unless women are adequately represented in the top management, gender issues and women‟s perspectives will not be addressed within an organisation, Though almost 50% female respondents were of the opinion that there should be more women in the administration of an organisation.
Figure 3.3: Women in editorial positions (news/ features) 100% 100% 90% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Male Female 7% 0% 3% 0% Yes No Not aware The survey in both national and regional print media organisations in Delhi showed women are adequately represented in editorial positions as well (both news and features).
To voice concerns of women in the newspaper and to challenge entrenched patriarchal norms of the society, it is necessary to have more women as editors as they can then highlight and make visible the continued discrimination and subjugation faced by women (in rural and urban areas) with sensitivity and from a rights perspective.
Opportunities in organisation: The survey sought to understand the perception of the respondents with regard to their opportunities at workplace, whether they have faced any constraint from the organisation to cover any story and what was the trend of beats covered by both male and female journalists.
26 Figure 3.4: Equal opportunity in print media 83% 74% 26% 17% Male Female Yes No 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% It is interesting to observe that more male (83%) than female respondents (74%) think equal opportunities are provided to men and women to cover any beat in the organisation.

Female respondents largely feel they are relegated to „soft‟ beats such as health, education, lifestyle, entertainment, travel, social welfare etc.
Very few women said they have had the opportunity to cover „hard‟ beats such as politics, crime, sports, law and others.

In fact the survey revealed that beats such as politics, election, human development, crime, finance, business continue to be the stronghold of men.

Women generally do feature stories on home and lifestyle, philosophy, personalities, entertainment, education, health and others.
There are very few women in the news desk who cover beats on currents affairs, legal matters, sports and technology.
CAPACITY BUILDING/PROFESSIONAL TRAINING IN GENDER 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Figure 3.5: Experience in covering stories on gender 91% 67% 33% 9% Male Female Yes No 27 The findings of the survey showed more female - 91% compared to male respondents - 67% have had the experience of doing stories on various aspects of gender which range from health, education, violence, politics, business, sports, lifestyle and entertainment.
The next question which we asked the respondents was pertaining to their awareness of gender related issues; their keenness to participate in gender-based programs and to what extent they are aware of the contemporary debates, discourse and policies in the arena of gender.
Awareness/ knowledge about gender We asked respondents questions about their participation any gender related workshop, training or seminar; their knowledge about Sustainable Development Goals and its interface with gender and about the proposed National Policy on Women 2016. figure 3.6: Participation in gender related programme 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 77% 43% 57% 23% Male Female Yes No As can be inferred from figure 3.6, 57% of female respondents have attended either workshop or seminar or training related to gender.
In comparison only 23% male respondents replied in the affirmative.

The female respondents have primarily attended seminars on trafficking of girls, child rights, sexual harassment of women at workplace, gender and development and human right.

However more than 40% of the respondents said they have never attended any gender related program.

It is important for the organization to realize that capacity building of employees on gender is integral to creating a decent work environment.
Gender training will also help journalists to understand the different dimensions and ramifications of women‟s issues and help them address a range of issues related to women and girls.

Men should also be encouraged to attend such programs as gender is not only the domain of women.

To break 28 gender stereotypes, understand and challenge constructions of masculinity and femininity, it is essential that male journalists participate in gender related programs too.
A large percentage of the respondents (nearly 70%) said they are aware about the current discussions in the domain of gender such as gender and SDG and the draft policy on women.

The female respondents said topics such safety of women at work, challenges women face at work (both urban and rural), impact of adult literacy program on women, women and disability, women and health (with focus on mental health) should receive more coverage in the coming years as very few stories have been done in these areas.
Female respondents equivocally stated problems and achievements of rural women are invisible in daily news or features.

There should be more stories on the lived experiences of rural women.

According to male respondents, new gender related topics which should get more coverage include – women and leadership, foray of women into different kinds of profession (and achievements in those sectors), and role and success of women in politics.
GENDER AND ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE Provision of leave: Leave constitute an important part of the organisation which allows employees to strike a balance between work and personal life.

An organisation provides various form of leave which range from casual, earn, medical, maternity, paternity and others.

Sometimes organisations provide study leave, extraordinary or special leave.
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 29 3% 4% 0% 0% Figure 3.7: Provision of Leave Maternity Childcare Paternity Casual Earn MedicalExtraordinary Study Not aware No Yes According to figure 3.4, most of the respondents (male-37% and female -96%) said their organisations provide maternity leave.
A large section of the respondents have also availed of childcare leave.

It was heartening to observe although paternity leave is a new one, most print media organisations provide it to their employees.

This shows the gender sensitivity of the organisations and their acknowledgement that nurturing and rearing of child is also a man‟s responsibility.

87% male and 91% female respondents are aware of paternity leave and said their organisations have included this leave in their formal policy.
The other predominant forms of leave offered by all organisations were casual, earn and medical leave.

Nearly 50% respondents said there is no provision of study leave in their organisations.

When we asked them about extraordinary or special leave, the respondents stated that largely leave depends on the discretion of the concerned authority.

Again nearly half of the respondents remarked there is no such provision in their respective organisations.
30 Basic amenities for employees Organisations must provide amenities which would enable both men and women to work comfortably and perform better at work.

The foundation of a decent workplace lies in the quality of amenities provided to the employees.
Figure 3.8: Infrastructure Audit Not aware No Yes 7% 4 Day care Clean toilet Canteen Facility for PwD Pregnant Women Transport Day care Centre: One of the reasons women leave jobs during pregnancy or post child birth is due to lack of adequate facilities in their organisations which address their needs.
The presence of a day care centre helps women to shoulder their child related responsibilities along with their jobs.

It is worthwhile to mention that it is also the responsibility of the father to take care of his child.

The day centre thus helps the men in the organisation to fulfil their familial duties as well.

An effective gender mainstreaming in an organisation entails presence of facilities which help both men and women to shoulder their familial duties.
By setting up a day care centre an organisation can further initiate discussion on gender roles, traditional roles of 31 women as mother and nurturer and sensitise their male employees with regard the role they can play in child rearing activities.

An overwhelming majority of the respondents (nearly 95%) said their organisations have set up a day care centre in their premises and this has been extremely beneficial for both men and women.
Clean and separate toilets: Health and hygiene are essential ingredients for creating a decent and gender sensitive work environment.

Hence it is the duty of every organisation to provide adequate number of separate and clean toilets for their employees.

According to figure 3.5 - 90% male and 96% female are satisfied with their toilet facilities and the state of hygiene of their organisations.

Canteen: Canteen is an informal space which helps employees to interact and network among each other.
The presence of a canteen creates an atmosphere of warmth and bonhomie.

In particular, presence of a canteen helps reduce the drudgery of women employees – assures them good food and helps them relax.

Almost 96% of the respondents said there is a canteen at workplace.

The female respondents added this is a big relief as they can work for long hours without thinking of preparing food at home.

Often they take food from the canteen back home for their family.
Facility for differently-abled people: As per the findings most print media organisations in Delhi have provision such elevator, ramp to enable differently abled people to access workplace and realise their potential as workers.

Such provisions indicate the zeal of the top management to make the workplace inclusive – addressing the needs and rights of all its employees.
Facilities for pregnant/lactating women: As studies have shown most women leave work either pre or post childbirth due to absence of supporting infrastructural facilities at workplace.

Keeping this in mind, we asked respondents whether there are any special provisions for pregnant/lactating women at work.
While 57% of respondents did respond in the affirmative; at least 24% said there are no such supportive 32 infrastructural facilities at work and this does lead to high attrition rate among female employees.

Travel and transport: It was heartening to observe that most of the print media organisations provide transport facilities to both male and female employees.

50% of the female respondents stated there are drop facilities if they are working late at work.
When they are travelling for assignments outside the city, many organisations ensure safety of women by booking hotels.

Also they insist that women are accompanied by their male colleagues.

DIGNITY AT WORK: POLICY AND COMMITTEE Globally, sexual harassment has been acknowledged as one of the worst forms of violence against women which violates the fundamental right of a woman to her body, dignity, freedom and to work.
It demeans the self worth of women and has a range of ramifications on the life and health of women.

Thus, one of the prime objectives of the survey was to map the level of compliance of an organisation to the new Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013; analyse perceptions of employees towards sexual harassment and related issues, examine level of awareness of employees about the new labour law.
Figure 3.9: Awareness about harassment at work 100% 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 35% 0% Yes Male Female 65% No 33 The findings highlight that while 35% female respondents have heard about harassment at work, none of their male counterparts are aware of the same.

This shows lack of understanding of what constitutes harassment at workplace.

It also suggests that very few women formally lodge complaint about sexual harassment due to shame and stigma associated with the issue.
More often than not, such incidences are discussed among peers and hence not all are aware of such cases.

Awareness among women about cases of harassment reinforces the fact that women continue to face such degrading and humiliating behaviour from their male colleagues and suffer in silence.

Female respondents remarked the most common form of harassment at work is in the verbal abuse followed by psychological harassment.
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Figure 3.10: Individual experinece of harassment 100% 43% 0% Yes Male Female 57% No As the figure above shows a large percentage of women (43%) said they have faced some form of harassment at work.

The most predominant form has been verbal abuse, followed by psychological abuse.

1 or 2 female respondents spoke about their experience of sexual harassment at workplace.
It can be inferred from the findings that there is lack of awareness among employees with regard to what constitutes sexual harassment and how it impacts both women and the organisation.

It is the responsibility of the organisation to provide a safe and secure workplace to its female employees.

Existence of harassment at workplace suggests that organisation has failed to perform its responsibilities and has been providing only lip service to gender sensitivity and equity.
34 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Figure 3.11: Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) 77% 70% Male Female 30% 13% 10% 0% Yes No Not aware Nearly 70% of the respondents said there is an ICC at workplace.

.

The employees have come to know about ICC through informal meetings, notifications and circular from the human resource department.

However, there is still lack of clarity among them regarding the exact role of ICC.
Lack of adequate knowledge about ICC has acted as a deterrent for many female employees to lodge formal complaint of harassment faced by them at work.

While it is laudable that organisations have complied with the new labour law and set up the appropriate committee; it is essential for the organisation to realise that mere setting up a committee is not enough to create gender sensitive work environment.
It is equally important to sensitise its staff about gender related issues and about the different committees which exist in the organisation to deal with issues related to gender.
figure 3.12: Policy on anti discrimination and harassment at workplace 67% 52% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 39% 17% 17% 9% Male Female Yes No Not aware 35 While a large majority of the respondents (male – 67% and female- 52%) stated there is a policy on anti discrimination and harassment at workplace; on the other, 39% of female respondents said there is no such policy at workplace.
As discussed earlier, the aim of the sexual harassment of women at workplace 2013 was to protect women from incidence of harassment; provide them a platform to lodge complaint and ensure redressal and justice to the aggrieved woman.

The other major aim of the Act is to sensitise all employees about what constitutes sexual harassment at work and thereby provide a safe working environment.
Absence of a policy on anti discrimination and harassment in an organisation makes women vulnerable to incidence of workplace harassment and denies them the right to work and justice.

Figure 3.13: Organisation of workshop to sensitise about Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 60% 61% 35% 23% Male Female 17% 4% Yes No Not aware The respondents stated that they were informed about the policy by the human resource department.
There has been no formal workshop or training to sensitise them about the various dimensions of the legal provision to address with sexual harassment at workplace.

Only 23% male and 35% female respondents stated they have attended workshop on the new law on sexual harassment.

Nearly 60% respondents said there has been no capacity building reading this new law.
36 REPRESENTATION OF GENDER IN PRINT MEDIA: TRENDS AND CHALLENGS Figure 3.14: Change in the style of writing/ reporting/representation of women’s issues in print media in the last 5 years 100% 93% 83% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Male Female 17% 7% Yes No As mentioned in the beginning of the chapter, a significant aspect of the survey was reviewing the ways in which print media is challenging gender stereotypes and to map the current trends in portrayal of gender.
93% male and 83% female respondents replied in the affirmative; acknowledging that there have been important and positive changes in the reporting style and representation of gender- based issues in the newspaper.

 The salient points elicited from female respondents are as follows – Writing: Women are not being marginalized either through coverage or usage of words.

Print media has become sensitive towards reporting crimes against women.
They do not sensationalize issues, keeping in view women‟s dignity and safety.

Reporting and Representation From the angle of reporting and representation, print media has sufficient coverage on women.

The print media today portrays diverse roles of women in society, their success in varied fields.

For instance, earlier women in sports were hardly covered and even topics like 37 sex were hesitantly represented.

Now, print media has become candid and covers such issues unhesitatingly.
Women issues are now published in the first page and editorial pages.

This testifies to the importance associated to gender.

However, it has also been observed that only good stories and achievements are being covered and realities are still being suppressed.
 The male respondents flagged the following changes with regard to writing/ reporting and representation of gender: Writing: Similar to their female counterpart, male respondents said print media now avoids using real names of survivors of violence so as to avoid further humiliation and stigmatization.

Language used is also gender sensitive.

Reporting and Representation As the participation of women in media has increased, coverage and emphasis on women issues and topics have increased.
Overall visibility and concern on women has increased.

Print media has adopted a very liberal and egalitarian format of coverage in case of women issues.

figure 3.15: Change in the coverage of issues/topics related to women over the years 87% 78% Male Female 22% 13% Yes No 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% An overwhelming majority of respondents (male – 87% and female -78%) are of the view that there has been an increase in the coverage of topics pertaining to women and gender.
38 Although proportion of gender related stories are more urban than rural; yet the positive aspect is there are new gender related topics which find space and coverage in the newspaper.

According to women topics such as sexuality and body are covered without hesitation.

Some of the new topics which find greater coverage include - violence against women, increased participation of in varied profession, skewed sex ratio, sanitation, health, changes in law and policy (egg.
new maternity leave policy, changes in juvenile justice).

There are now more stories on women achievers in every walk of life.

Print media also does special stories on the impact of various government policies and schemes on women‟s empowerment.

The male respondents remarked that of late coverage of women‟s participation in economy, agriculture and sports has gained prominence and has also increased noticeably.

There is increased focus on gender equality and women rights.
Topics like sexual harassment at workplace and various other forms of domestic violence are being covered more regularly and candidly.

figure 3.16: Gender sensitive reporting guidelines 83% 57% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 37% 17% 7% 0% Male Female Yes No Not aware To make reporting on gender issues sensitive and further to challenge gender stereotypes; print media houses in Delhi have adopted gender sensitive reporting guidelines.
The respondents (male - 57% and female - 83%) have said that their organizations have gender sensitive reporting guidelines and they have been sensitized about it.

This is indicative of the commitment and proactiveness of the organization to integrate gender both at the level of policy and implementation.
39 MAKING WORKPLACE GENDER SENSITIVE: RESPONDENTS’ SPEAK One of the salient aspects of the research instrument was to elicit views from respondents on measures print media organisations can take to make workplace gender sensitive and inclusive.
According to the respondents effective measures which can be adopted by workplace are as follows: Table 3.1: Practical measures for making workplace gender sensitive Male Female Gender sensitisation training for all staff – to bring about attitudinal change Workshop on sexual harassment policy and procedure Workshop on sexual harassment policy and procedure Increase representation of women in leadership positions as well as in other verticals of the organisation Recruitment of more women – senior women should become role models for others Provide transport facilities to women so that they can be part of night assignments Set up committee responsible for equality policy, harassment issues which will enable men and women to voice their problems in the organisation should More women should be given leadership positions in administration Organisation safety while travelling for assignments, especially at night.
Pick up and drop facilities should be provided Set up gender committee where women can talk about their needs and problems ensure Crèche should be set up at work Male colleagues/staff should be made aware gender sensitive behaviour and language at workplace Women should be allowed to do both „soft‟ and „hard‟ beats – should not be confined primarily to features segment Flexible working hours should be there to enable women to continue work post child birth.
Additional benefits should be provided to pregnant and lactating women Organisation should conduct survey to understand gender related issues at workplace 40 hapter 4 Key findings from Mumbai MAINSTREAMING GENDER: ORGANISATIONAL POLICY As stated in the last chapter, a gender policy is a tool through which a formal effort can be made to initiate gender mainstreaming in the organisation.

A gender policy is more of an expression of the organisation to meet the gender needs of its various components.
figure 4.1: Gender policy in organisation 71% 52% 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Male Female 25% 22% 26% 4% Yes No Not aware Figure 4.1 highlights most print media houses which were surveyed in Mumbai recognise the importance of a gender policy and have sensitised their employees about it as well.

71% male and 52% female respondents responded in the affirmative suggesting their awareness about the existence of such a policy.
However, 26% female respondents said they are not aware about gender policy.

This can be interpreted in two ways – absence of a policy in an organisation – in which case the print media house needs to develop a gender policy or lack of effort on part of the organisation to communicate such policy to their employees and the need for the organisation to be more proactive in sensitising its employees about all its 41 policies.
Mere existence of a policy has little effect unless it is well communicated, understood and implemented by all.

GENDER AND LEADERSHIP Figure 4.2: Women in the governing board 74% 71% Male Female 25% 26% 4% 0% Yes No Not aware 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% The survey shows encouraging results with regard to representation of women in the governing board of an organisation.
Over 70% respondents (primarily from regional print media) said women are adequately represented in the executive committee or the governing board of their organisation.

Only 25% of respondents stated there are no women in the executive committee of the organisation.

The governing board is responsible for highest level decision making.
In this context it is important to note that if the Board has adequate representation of women then it ensures interests of women in the community as well as within the organisation will be accorded priority.

42 Figure 4.3: Women in top management 63% 65% 38% 35% Male Female Yes No 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Similar to Delhi, the data from Mumbai shows women are present in all the important strategic and decision making bodies of the organisation.
According to 65% respondents, in their organisations women occupy leadership positions in administration, marketing, advertisement and finance departments.

The findings revealed adequate representation of women in editorial positions too.
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Figure 4.4: Women in editorial positions (news/ features) 91% 79% Male Female 21% 4% 4% 0% Yes No Not aware As is evident from figure 4.4, 91% female and 79% male respondents said they have women as editors both in news and features divisions in their organisation.
It was encouraging to observe how both national and regional print media in Mumbai have made conscious effort to ensure leadership positions to women based on their domain expertise, skills and experience.

43 Such initiatives are indicative of gender sensitivity of the management of the organisation and their commitment to gender mainstreaming at work.
Opportunities in organisation: As part of the survey, we wanted to find out whether men and women in the print media get equal opportunity to cover any beat of their desire or whether there are exists segregation of beats along lines of gender.

Figure 4.5: Equal oppurtunity to cover any beat in the print media 67% 65% 33% 35% Male Female 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Yes No An overwhelming majority of respondents (65%) replied in the affirmative.
However, 33% male and 35% female respondents said they do not always get to cover the beat of their choice.

The female respondents, on further probing, revealed there are „soft‟ beats and „hard‟ beats in the media.

The dominant perception is women are more suitable for doing feature stories and stories on health, education and entertainment.

News, crime, politics are still considered the domain of men as it involves travelling, night assignments and taking risks to get the information.
There have been changes in this pattern, but the change is extremely slow.

Lack of organisational support in terms of facilities and other arrangements are also reasons for women not getting opportunities to cover the „hard‟ beats.

This gradual invisibilisation of women from „hard‟ beats impact their career growth and mobility towards positions at the top.
The findings highlighted male respondents primarily get the opportunity to cover the following beats – 44  Environment  Crime  Politics  Sports  Human rights  Government administration – municipal corporation  Labor related issues  Social media  Business and finance As per the survey, female respondents predominantly cover the following beats –  Education  Health  Art & Culture  Entertainment & Lifestyle Out of 24 female respondents, only 3 respondents stated they do stories on environment, sports and gender.
CAPACITY BUILDING/PROFESSIONAL TRAINING IN GENDER figure 4.6: Stories covered on gender related issues 79% 70% 30% 21% Male Female 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Yes No More than 70% respondents cover a range of gender related topics.

To cover new stories on gender it is important to be aware of the latest debates and discussions in the arena.
It is also essential to have requisite gender related training to understand the various nuances of the 45 problem and address the issue with greater sensitivity.

Accordingly we asked the respondents if they have participated in any training, workshop or seminar on gender.
figure 4.7: Participation in gender related programme 52% 38% 63% 48% Male Female 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Yes No It was heartening to observe that atleast 52% female and 38% male respondents have participated in programs pertaining to various issues related to gender.

The female respondents said they have attended seminars/workshops on gender and development, women‟s rights as human rights, situation of tribal women in India.
Male respondents (a few of them) mentioned the areas in which they attended workshops.

These were on women‟s rights, women‟s education and women‟s health.

A large proportion of respondents have attended no gender related program.

Participation in such programs should be encouraged by the organisation.

To write about gender issues both awareness and sensitivity are required and this can only happen when journalists attend programs which address the lived experiences of women and girl child.
Effective gender mainstreaming within organisations entails creating opportunities for employees to attend training programs which enhance their knowledge about contemporary issues and help them do informed reporting about the same.

Respondents from Mumbai have heard about SDG and the draft National Policy on Women 2016.
Although 65% of the respondents said both the policies have identified new topics which need to be addressed in relation to women‟s rights; they were unable to state the various dimensions of gender discussed in these policies.

This clearly showed that journalists lacked clarity about the latest development discourse which is currently shaping 46 government‟s agenda about women‟s rights and empowerment.
Participation in various gender related programs is essential as it will help journalists identify topics which are still not highlighted or addressed by the newspaper and the necessity to start discussion on them.

GENDER AND ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE Provision of leave Leave form an integral part of effective mainstreaming of gender in organisations.

Each organisation provides their employees different forms of leave to help them strike a balance between their professional and personal lives.
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 4% 4% 9% 17% figure 4.8: Provision of leave Not aware No Yes 4% 0% l e a M l e a m e F Maternity Childcare Paternity Casual Earn MedicalExtraordinary Study According to figure 4.8 majority of the respondents avail of maternity, childcare and paternity leave.
Infact more male (96%) than female (74%) have availed of childcare leave.

Paternity leave is a new form of leave.

Despite that 96% male respondents are aware of the leave and some have availed of it too.

It was evident from the survey that organisations have sensitised their employees about these forms of leave and have endeavoured to address the different needs of their employees by offering different forms of leave.
47 In addition, employees are aware and have availed of casual, earn and medical leave.

Study leave is hardly provided by any organisation (96% replied in the negative).

Nearly 70% remarked there is no provision for special leave.
Provision of basic amenities figure 4.9: Infrastructure Audit Not aware No Yes 48% 46% 43% 33% 0% l e a M 0 Day care Clean toilet Canteen Facility for PwD Pregnant Women Transport Day care centre: One of the foremost reasons of women leaving jobs is absence of facilities in workplace for their young children.
As figure 4.9 shows all respondents univocally said their organisations do not have provision for day care centre.

Since traditionally women are expected to be the nurturer as well as the caregiver hence absence of day care centre results in women leaving their jobs after child birth or taking a long sabbatical from work – both which pose hinder the career growth of women.
It is ironical that while on one hand print media organisations have provided paternity leave and encourage men to share responsibility of rearing of child; on the other they have not set up day care centres in their premises.

48 It is worthwhile to mention that child rearing is the responsibility of both parents; provision of day care centre (similar to paternity leave) will sensitise men about their duties towards their child also allow women to continue to work.
Day care centre is a necessity for both men and women and organisations if they are to be gender sensitive need to acknowledge this.

Clean and separate toilets: Provision of clean and separate toilets is the core of creating an enabling and gender sensitive work environment.

As the figure 4.9 reveals 83% respondents are satisfied with the condition of toilets at their workplace.
There are however, 17% who complained about the hygiene and maintenance of the toilets which creates problems for both men and women at work.

Canteen: While 88% male respondents replied in the affirmative, 61% female said there is no canteen in their office.

Provision of canteen at work reduces the drudgery of women and gives her more time to work and relax.

Organisations need to pay heed to such matters in order to create a decent work place.
Facility for differently-abled employees: While 75% male and 43% female respondents remarked there are ramps and elevators in their organisations to facilitate differently-abled employees; nearly 48% respondents from the regional print media organisations pointed out that there are no provision for differently-abled people at work.

They face difficulties at work but top management is oblivious to such problems.
Facility for pregnant and lactating women: While a handful of organisations provide restrooms for pregnant and lactating women; in most organisations there are no additional benefits given to women when they are pregnant or lactating.

As a result many women leave their jobs pre or post child birth.

At least 35% female and 46% male said although such provision is integral to gender sensitive workspace but it is not a reality in many organisations.
49 Transport and travel: According to figure 4.9, 58% male and 53% female respondents said working at night is not a problem as their organisation either arranges for vehicle or provides facility of drop at night.

Even when women travel alone for assignment their organisations book their hotels.

Female respondents remarked they usually travel with their male colleagues or with another female colleague.
There are still some regional print media organisations which do not allow women to work during night shifts citing reasons of safety.

A protectionist approach towards women is not the solution to the problem.

It only curbs their basic right to work and minimises their chances to climb up the organisational ladder.

Instead an organisation should create an enabling work environment where both men and women have equal opportunities to work.
The need of the hour is to institutionalise mechanisms which ensure safety of women rather than denying them the right to work during night shifts.
DIGNITY AT WORK: POLICY AND COMMITTEE figure 4.10: Policy on sexual harassment at work 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 52% 54% 38% Male Female 26% 22% 8% Yes No Not aware Although 52% female and 38% male respondents remarked that their organisation has a policy against discrimination and workplace harassment; almost 54% male respondents replied in the negative.

Safety, security and a decent work culture are essential ingredients of 50 making workplace gender sensitive and inclusive.
Discrimination and harassment at work deny an individual his/her right to work.

Such instances also have significant impact on the mental and physical health of the individual.

In 2013, government of India implemented the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act.

The Act mandates every organisation to have a policy on harassment and discrimination.

The absence of such a policy is proof of organisational laxity and its failure to ensure the rights of all its employees, especially women.
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% figure 4.11: Harassment in organisation 92% 87% Male Female 13% 8% Yes No Several studies have shown that one of the major concerns of women at work is sexual harassment which is endemic, often hidden and present in many forms in an organisation.

Keeping this in mind, we asked the respondents if they are aware of any forms of harassment in their own workplace.
Majority of the respondents (male -92% and female – 87%) said they have not heard of any harassment at their workplace.

This is indeed positive and laudable.

However, incidences of harassment may not always be reported due to fame and shame associated with it.

Hence, not being aware of harassment can also be due to underreporting of such cases in the organisation.

As per the sexual harassment Act 2013, it is mandatory for every organisation to set up a committee to deal with such incidences.
The role of the committee is to create an enabling environment where women can report cases of harassment prohibit such instances and provide redressal to aggrieved women.

51 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% figure 4.12: Experience of harassment at work 79% 74% 26% 21% Male Female Yes No While majority of the respondents said they have never faced any harassment at work; 21% male and 26% female replied in the affirmative.
It is significant to observe that a higher percentage of women in comparison to men said they have been subjected to workplace harassment.

In most cases verbal abuse is predominant followed by psychological abuse.

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% figure 4.13: Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in organisation 50% 39% 52% 46% Male Female 9% 4% Yes No Not aware Nearly 40% respondents said there is ICC in their organisation.
However, a large number of respondents (male -46% and female- 52%) said their organisations have made no effort to set up ICC at workplace.

It merits mention that mere development of a policy on harassment and discrimination is futile if it is not adequately supported by other initiatives such as setting up 52 ICC.

To curb sexual harassment at work, ensure safety of women and provide space for women to report about issues related to harassment; it is essential to set up ICC.
Role of ICC is also to sensitise employees about gender and issues related violence against women.

In the absence of ICC such discussions and issues remain unaddressed thereby perpetrating harassment against women.
figure 4.14: Organisation of workshop to sensitise employees about Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 67% 61% 30% 25% Male Female 8% 9% Yes No Not aware According to figure 4.14 majority of the print media organisations have organised no training program or workshop to make their employees aware about various dimensions and ramifications of sexual harassment at workplace.
Respondents stated that they came to know about ICC or the sexual harassment Act through notifications, circulars or other documents which were shared by their human resource department.
53 REPRESENTATION OF GENDER IN PRINT MEDIA: TREND AND CHALLENGE figure 4.15: Change in the style of writing/ reporting/ representation of women's issue in print media in the last 5 years 88% 78% Male Female 22% 13% Yes No 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% As the world moved from millennium to sustainable development paradigm and new topics related to gender began to emerge, we tried through the survey to examine whether the content of the newspaper reflected the change in discussion on gender.
88% male and 78% female respondents remarked they have witnessed significant changes in the writing, language and representation of women and gender issues in their newspaper/magazine.

 The major changes flagged by the female respondents are as follows – Writing: One of the key observations was language has become more gender sensitive.

For instance, “balatkar” has been replaced by “atyachar”.
Issues pertaining to women‟s rights are covered more objectively and words which may hurt the sentiments of people are no longer used.

Reporters are being told not to use words that are unfair and malign the image of women in general.

Reporting: There are more stories on crimes against women with a focus on how women survivors are fighting these atrocities.

There is a positive tone in these stories which portray women as agents of change rather than as „victim‟ of circumstance.
Reporters are sensitised to protect the identity of survivor of violence.

Women are encouraged to unlike a few years ago when 54 women were hesitant to seek support.

According to female respondents, female reporters cover gender issues with greater sensitivity than their male counterpart.

Male reports need more training and awareness about various dimensions of gender.

Representation: Print media – be it national or regional now make efforts to avoid stereotypical portrayal of women.
There has been increase in percentage of women centric stories.

The effort is to highlight the multifaceted contribution of women in society and ways in which women are breaking the glass ceiling.

It is worthwhile to mention that revenue decides coverage and presentation of news in newspaper.

Hence, in the entertainment segment of the newspaper/magazine, commodification of women persists.
It is indeed paradoxical that newspaper organisation which is vocal about women‟s rights also in its tabloid sensationalises and commodifies women and does a stereotypical portrayal of women.

Female respondents were of the opinion unless there is a formal gender policy in organisation, these inconsistencies and discrimination will remain unchallenged and will persist.
 The major changes pointed out by male respondents are enumerated below – Writing: Certain words like “rape” are being replaced by “sexual violence”.

Similarly, the word “victims” is being replaced by “survivors”.

Words that tend to marginalize or denigrate the status of women are being avoided.

Also in women centric stories the attempt is to portray the rights of women.

In crime related stories gory details are avoided, focus is on how rights of women have been violated.
Reporting and Representation: Coverage on women issues has increased, both in terms of numbers and depth.

Reporting has become more sensitive as the print media does not highlight names of the women survivors of violence unless women are comfortable and provide consent.

Gender issues get priority and address the persisting challenges faced by women in various walks of life.

Society is highly vigilant on women rights and therefore print media also tends to be conscious while reporting.
55 figure 4.16: Change in the coverage of issues/ topics related to women over the years 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 61% 54% 46% 39% Male Female Yes No While 40% respondents said there has been no change in the coverage of women related topics in the print media; 54% male and 61% female thought otherwise.

According to them with changes in policy at international and national levels there are now more discussion on gender related issues.
According to the female respondents currently there are more stories happening on various forms of violence against women and child in both public and private spaces and the achievement of women in varied professional fields – which include business, finance, sports, entrepreneurship etc.

Although women‟s issues are covered in an exhaustive manner; lived experiences of many women, especially women living in rural areas do not get adequate coverage.
Sometimes families resist from sharing complete information as far as women issues are concerned.

In the opinion of the male respondents, there has been a comprehensive coverage of women related topics ranging from movies, to sports to women empowerment, women rights etc.

For instance, sports column was once a male dominated sphere.

Now there are female reporters in the sports desk also women‟s achievements in various sports get frequent and wide coverage.
Apart from regular topics, print media has also been focusing on women‟s participation in challenging profession such as bus drivers, conductors etc to make people understand that with necessary skills women can also be part of any profession.

56 figure 4.17: Gender sensitive reporting guidelines 67% 65% Male Female 33% 17% 17% 0% Yes No Not aware 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Similar to Delhi, print media houses in Mumbai have implemented gender sensitive reporting guideline.
An overwhelming majority of respondents (male - 67% and female – 65%) responded in the affirmative.

According to the respondents the purpose of the issuing such a guideline is to prevent gender insensitive reporting, highlight the voices and experiences of women and minimize gender stereotypes in both their print and electronic products.
MAKING WORKPLACE GENDER SENSITIVE: RESPONDENTS’ SPEAK To effectively mainstream gender in organisational policies it is imperative to understand the gender concerns in an organisation.

For this participatory gender audit is essential among the employees of the organisation.

As part of the survey, we therefore asked our respondents about their concerns and what practical measures should an organisation undertake to make work environment inclusive and sensitive.
Table 4.1 Practical measures for making workplace gender sensitive Male Training programs, workshops on gender to raise awareness about gender related issues among journalists Increase gender sensitivity of staff through capacity building workshops Female Organisation workshops of gender sensitisation 57 Provision of transport for night assignments Increased governing board and in administration representation of women in ICC about Awareness Harassment Act Flexible participation of women Provision of canteen, crèche schedule to and Sexual enable greater should be Provision of transport to enable women to work during night shifts Women should be allowed to cover any beat Representation of women increased in editorial positions Gender committee to address concerns of women Exclusive forum for women Awareness ICC Harassment Act Flexible working hours so that women do not have to give up jobs after childbirth Crèche, clean toilets Sexual about and 58 Chapter 5 Key findings from Kolkata MAINSTREAMING GENDER : ORGANISATIONAL POLICY To make workplace gender-sensitive it is essential to have a gender policy.
A gender policy acknowledges that gender relations are unequal in our society and this inequality can be evident in the systems of organizations too.

Hence a gender policy is the first step towards addressing and tackling systemic inequalities in an organization.

Further, a gender policy is an explicit commitment of the organization to promote gender equality at workplace.

Such a policy also provides a framework for mainstreaming gender in the various dimensions of the organizational agenda.
The core principles of gender policy are – recognition, diversity, equality, equity and participation and partnership.

In this light the survey included a question on whether the print media organizations have a gender policy.

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% figure 5.1: Gender policy in organisation 69% 53% Male Female 40% 14% 17% 7% Yes No Not aware 59 Figure 5.1 shows that very few respondents have replied in the affirmative.
Even those respondents who said yes, do not have clarity as regards the content of such a policy.

40% male and 14% female respondents said there is no gender policy in their organizations.

A large proportion of respondents is not aware of such a policy (male -53% and female – 69%), its dimensions and hence could not provide an appropriate an answer.
This clearly shows that while print media organizations address gender issues in their newspapers; a formal commitment to mainstreaming gender at workplace is still lacking.
GENDER AND LEADERSHIP figure 5.2: Women in governing board 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 47% 48% 24% 7% 47% 28% Male Female Yes No Not aware Findings from Kolkata shows that while there are few print media organizations which have women in the governing body (as stated by 48% respondents); there are still many organizations which do not have women in such critical decision making bodies.
47% male and 28% female respondents remarked they are not aware whether there are women in the executive committee; the highest decision is making body within an organization.

As argued earlier for women‟s concerns to be highlighted and for greater gender sensitivity, women should be well represented in all the committees, especially in the major decision making bodies.
Unless organizations include adequate number of women in 60 the executive committee the differential needs of women and men and other gender related issues will not receive due importance and attention in meetings.

Although women may not be adequately represented in the executive committee (an area which needs thinking and intervention); the study shows women are in leadership positions departments such as finance, administration and marketing.

This is indeed positive and commendable.


figure 5.3: Women in editorial positions (news/ features) 100% 93% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 86% Male Female 10% 7% 3% 0% Yes No Not aware Women are also well represented in the editorial committees and hold leadership positions as well (figure 5.3).

93% male and 86% female respondents stated there are women editors (in both news and features division) in their respective organizations.
Opportunities provided to employees: One important aspect of the survey was trying to comprehend whether men and women in print media houses have the freedom to choose their beats, what is the current trend, are women doing stories on politics, local self government, administration, sports, crime (generally considered male domains in the industry).
61 figure 5.4: Men and Women get equal opportunity to cover any beat in the print media 80% 72% 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 28% 20% Male Female Yes No A large percentage of male respondents (80%) in comparison to their female counterpart (72%) said men and women are being given equal opportunities to cover any beat.

Women however think otherwise.


While many women did say that trend is changing and there are no such segregation of topics along gender lines; there are still regional print media organisations which do not allow women to work on late night assignments hence they do not get to cover stories on election, crime, current affairs.

It is essential to realise that organisations need to address the inherent systemic discrimination which exclude women from important assignments.
Findings from the survey shows the following – Beats covered by men are –  Sports  Health  Current affairs  Municipal Corporation and local self government  Education  Business  Crime 62 Beats covered by women are – While a large number of female respondents said they do stories primarily in the arena of culture, entertainment, lifestyle and food; there were a few respondents who have digressed from the „soft‟ beats and have found a strong foothold in some of the male dominated beats such as -  Environment  Sports  Defence  Politics CAPACITY BUILDING/PROFESSIONAL TRAINING ON GENDER FOR EMPLOYEES figure 5.5.: experience in covering gender related issues 83% 67% 33% 17% Male Female 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Yes No The survey highlights a greater percentage of female - 83% compared to male respondents - 67% cover gender related stories.
One reason for the men not taking up too many gender related stories is inextricably linked with their awareness and interest in gender.

The common perception is gender is only about women so only women journalists should do such stories.

In reality gender denotes social constructed characteristics which shape the life stories of men and women.

Gender roles, norms and behaviour significantly influence people‟s access to 63 information, mobility, basic services.
To develop a comprehensive understanding of gender it is necessary to attend gender related workshops or training programs.

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% figure 5.6: Participation in gender related programme 90% 67% Male Female 33% 10% Yes No As the data highlights (figure 5.6) only 10% female and 33% male respondents have attended either a seminar or workshop on gender.
Majority of the respondents (male- 67% and female- 90%) said their organisations did not provide any such opportunity nor did they make any effort to participate gender specific programs.

As argued earlier to write on gender, it is important to understand the concept of gender, the context in which women are located, how gender interacts with other forms of social inequities.
Unless journalists have a holistic understanding about such issues, they can never truly challenge patriarchy or the stereotypical representation of women in the media.

Hence, it is the responsibility of both men and women journalists to attend programs on gender.

It is also the duty of the employer to provide a platform for such discussion within the organisation.
Gender related discussion within organisation will have a twofold impact – a) enhance gender sensitivity of the workplace and b) facilitate better and comprehensive reporting on women‟s issues in the newspaper.

Like other cities, in Kolkata too we asked respondents about SDG and the draft National Policy on Women 2016.

More women (55%) than men (27%) are aware about such policies; especially the proposed national policy on women.
Regarding SDG, female respondents said 64 while they have heard about the new development agenda but lack clarity with regard to interface of gender with all the goals of sustainable development.

Gender is not a woman‟s issues; it concerns both men and women.

It was disheartening to observe that while men report on women‟s issues, they have very little knowledge (60%) about current development in the arena of gender and rights.
GENDER AND ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE This section will discuss issues such as leave, basic amenities, workplac safety to understand how differential needs of men and women are addressed by the organisation.
Provision of leave to employees: figure 5.7: Leaves provided to employees 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 3% 7% 90% 33% 7% 60% l e a M l e a m e F 13% 20% l e a M Maternity Childcare Paternity Casual Earn MedicalExtraordinary Study It is important to observe while 90% female respondents said their organisations provide maternity leave, only 60% male respondents replied in the affirmative.
A significant 33% male respondent are not aware whether maternity leave is provided by their organisation.

This indicates lack of communication and sensitisation of employees regarding formal leave.

Similar to Hyderabad (discussed earlier), it can also be that maternity leave is not n option in small regional print media houses.

Not aware No Yes 65 In case of childcare leave too, more female respondents (45%) than male (20%) are aware about the provision.
This also highlights the laxity of the organisation.

It also brings to fore that childcare is still perceived as a responsibility of women and so we find greater awareness among women about this leave.

While 27% male respondents are aware of paternity, a larger segment of the respondents are unaware about such a leave.

This is indicative of the gender perceptions and sensitivity of both organisation and the individual.

Most respondents replied in the affirmative regarding casual, earn and medical leave.
It is significant to note that compared to other cities, in Kolkata a greater percentage of female respondents are aware about special leave and study leave.

In both cases about 40% female respondents said organisation does grant such leave but it depends on the discretion of the management.

Some female respondents stated their colleagues have been given special leave as well as study leave.
The awareness about such leave is through peers and not through any formal communication from the human resource department.

In the absence of formal communication, many respondents are not aware about their basic entitlements.
Provision of basic amenities: 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% figure 5.8: Infrastructure Audit l e a M 0 Day care Clean toilet Canteen Facility for PwD Pregnant Women Transport Not aware No Yes 66 Day care Centre: The survey highlighted that none of the print media organisations has day care centre on their premises.
Female respondents said they either take leave without pay for a year or discontinue working for a year or till the time the child grows up.

It is indeed ironical that media which addresses discrimination of women and is most vocal about women‟s rights; are least concerned about the necessities of their employees (male and female).

Absence of day care centre reflects the entrenched discrimination prevalent towards women.
It also shows that top management of organisations are oblivious towards adopting strategies to mainstream gender.

Clean and separate toilet: According to figure 5.8, an overwhelming majority (male – 87% and female – 83%) are satisfied with the condition of toilets in their organisations.

However, there were respondents both male and female who complained about the hygiene of the toilets.

Canteen: More male (93%) than female respondents (76%) said there is provision on canteen in their organisations.
As argued earlier, a canteen provides space for relaxation, interaction as well as developing networks with peers.

It is an essential ingredient towards creating gender sensitivity and an amicable work environment.

Facility for differently-abled people: Majority of the respondents said there are arrangements for differently-abled people in their workplaces.

Most of the organisations which were surveyed had ramps, elevator to enable differently-abled people access their workspaces with ease and comfort.
Such facilities not only promote the basic rights of people but also create an inclusive workspace.

Transport and travel: It was extremely satisfying to observe that most of the organisations had drop facility for women if they had assignments at night.

Unlike Hyderabad and Mumbai, there was only one organisation which did not encourage women journalists working during night shifts.
67 Majority of the regional print media organisations (which were surveyed) encouraged equal participation of women in both features and news reporting.

They ensured women were provided with safety and security when they travelled alone for assignments or worked at late at night.
DIGNITY AT WORK: POLICY AND COMMITTEE Figure 5.9: Policy on anti discrimination and harassment at workplace 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20% 21% 33% 28% 52% 47% Male Female Yes No Not aware Unlike Mumbai and Delhi, in Kolkata very few respondents (male – 20% and female- 21%) are aware of their workplace policy on harassment.

Majority of the respondents (male -47% and female – 52%) and unaware about the existence of any such policy.
Male and female respondents have come to know about the policy through internal meetings, circulars, website notification and human resource department.

68 figure 5.10: Awareness about harassment at worplace 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 93% 59% 45% 7% Yes No Male Female A sizeable proportion of female respondents (45%) have heard of/ are aware of sexual harassment in their organisations compared to the male respondents.

The predominant form of harassment that women spoke of was verbal abuse.
Only 7% of the male respondents remarked that instances of sexual harassment have occurred in their organisation.

A large percentage of male respondents said they have not heard about such issues at workplace.

It is interesting to observe that only women reported to being aware of harassment in their organisations.

This reinforces the fact that in most cases women are subject to such behaviour at workplace.
The data also shows there is underreporting of cases of harassment otherwise the male respondents would have been equally aware of such incidences.

figure 5.11: Individual experience of harassment at work 100% 86% 14% 0% Yes No Male Female 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Figure 5.11 confirms that women are subject to harassment more than men.

14% female respondents reported facing harassment at work while none of the male respondents shared any such experience.
According to the female respondents verbal use is the most common form of harassment faced by them in their respective organisations.

69 The respondents have faced harassment within the organisation.

In most cases they have dealt with the situation themselves and have not sought any help from the organisation due to fear and stigma associated with workplace harassment.
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% figure 5.12: Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in organisation 52% 27% 17% 13% 60% 31% Male Female Yes No Not aware Like Mumbai, more women than men are have information about ICC at workplace.

52% female respondents said they know about details of the committee which deals with cases of sexual harassment at workplace.

However, 60% male respondents said they do not know about ICC and have no information about such a committee in their organisation.
This clearly shows the laxity on part of organisations to implement the Act properly.

figure 5.13: Organisation of workshop to sensitise employees about the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 69% 53% 47% 31% Male Female 0% 0% Yes No Not aware 70 As figure 5.13 indicates majority of the respondents (male – 63% and female- 69%) said their organisations did not many effort to arrange for any workshop to sensitise employees about gender issues.
REPRESENATION OF GENDER IN PRINT MEDIA: TREND AND CHALLENGE figure 5.14: Change in the style of writing/ reporting/representation of women’s issues in print media in the last 5 years 93% 80% Male Female 20% 7% Yes No 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% A large percentage of the respondents (male – 80% and female – 93%) said there has been a perceptible change in the way gender issues are currently discussed, covered and represented in the print media.
There are now new topics which are covered with regard to women‟s rights, women‟s empowerment.

In comparison to yesteryears there is more space given in newspapers to gender issues.

While it is true that certain issues dominate the discussion on gender and that focus is more on urban women than rural; yet according to journalists there is greater awareness about gender and also the willingness of the organisation to contribute to gender mainstreaming in all sectors.
The most significant change that has come about in reporting is that women are o longer portrayed as helpless but as citizen with rights and agency.

The feature stories now tend to now analyse causes which lead to marginalisation and discrimination of women.

 According to female respondents the key changes observed in the sphere of writing/reporting and representation of gender are as follows – 71 Writing: Language used has become more candid, neutral and generic.
For instance, “actor” has become the generic term to represent both men and women instead of women being called “actresses”.

Names of women survivors are being published selectively with their consent.

There are gender sensitive reporting guidelines which determine the way stories are written.

All journalists are made aware of these reporting guidelines as well as the important gender related laws.
Reporting As women‟s participation in print media has increased, reporting on women related issues has also proportionately increased.

Earlier, newspaper will publish a special issue to discuss women‟s issues now gender based reporting is part of everyday news.

Representation Pictures of survivors of violence have become subtle.

Society has become sensitive to women issues.

As a consequence, the overall representation of women in print media has evolved and has become more positive.
 The male respondents who replied in the affirmative had the following points to share- Writing: There has been a significant change in the language and tone of women centric stories.

They are now written in a more refined way with a positive overtone.

Print media organizations have become more conscious about the language used.

This gender sensitivity in language has also made them earn appreciation from their readers.
Seniors from editorial teams sensitize their employees to use more generic terms while referring to women and rationalize the use of terms such as “young woman” or “housewife”.

Terminologies like “victims” are being replaced now by “survivors”.

The effort is to bring in perspective of human rights in stories on women.

72 Reporting & Representation: As far as the reporting and representation is concerned, the journalists are encouraged to write more on discrimination against women.
Censorship is judiciously exercised and care is taken not to sensationalise stories on women.

figure 5.15: Change in the coverage of issues/topics related to women over the years 79% 73% 27% 17% Male Female Yes No 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% As data shows, majority of the respondents are of the opinion that there has been increased in the coverage of gender related topics.
Also several new topics are now being discussed with regard to women‟s issues such as: - Sexuality - Mental health - Singleness - Disability - Entrepreneurship According to a large number of female respondents some of the topics which have received greater coverage in recent years include - child health, child psychology, women entrepreneurs, violence against women, survivors of violence, human trafficking, women in sports, women achievers, participation of women in local self government, women and development.
To quote the male respondents: topics such as mental illness, importance of counselling, violence against women, women‟s empowerment and equality are given more importance.

73 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% figure 5.16: Gender sensitive reporting guidelines 72% 40% 53% 28% Male Female 7% 0% Yes No Not aware As is evident from the responses above some print media houses of the city have issued gender sensitive reporting guidelines.
However it is alarming that a sizeable proportion of the respondents (male -40% and female – 72%) have replied in the negatives, especially women.

While the newspapers continue to be vocal about rights of women and gender equality, the data from the survey shows there is lack of commitment of organisations when it comes to mainstreaming gender in their organisational policies.

The approach to gender issues is tokenistic and ad hoc and has no real impact on the lives of people working in the organisation.
MAKING WORKPLACE GENDER SENSITIVE: RESPONDENTS’ SPEAK Similar to Delhi and Mumbai, respondents in Kolkata too articulated their opinion as to how gender can be incorporated in organisational policy and ways in which environment of an organisation can be made gender sensitive.
74 Table 5.1: Practical measures to make workplace gender sensitive Male Female Women should have freedom to cover any beat Increased decision making bodies More women in editorial positions representation of women in Newsroom should be gender sensitive Increased representation of women in news desk Awareness about sexual harassment Act and ICC Complaints of women should be seriously and justice provided Day care centre, canteen taken Survey should be undertaken by organisation to map gender concerns Forum for both men and women to articulate their perspective and needs Monitoring implementation of policies 75 Chapter 6 Key findings from Hyderabad MAINSTREAMING GENDER: ORGANISATIONAL POLICY figure 6.1: Gender policy 65% 58% Male Female 35% 19% 15% 8% 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Yes No Not aware In Hyderabad, as the data reveals majority of the respondents (male – 58% and female – 65%) are not aware about gender policy.
According to them they do not know whether their organisations have a gender policy as there has been no formal communication to employees on such a policy from the organisation.

However, some respondents said there are gender sensitive guidelines when it comes to reporting on matters such as violence against women, sexual harassment at workplace etc.
GENDER AND ORGANISATIONAL LEADERSHIP 76 figure 6.2: Women in the governing board 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 58% 35% 35% Male Female 31% 27% 15% Yes No Not aware As per the survey, the city presents a dismal scenario with regard to representation of women in governing bodies of organizations.
While approximately 30% respondents said there are women in the executive committee (though not an adequate representation); 35% female respondents said there are no women at the topmost position of the organization.

Only 35% of the respondents said there are women in administration.

In most of the regional print media organizations, as the findings showed, the head of these departments are male.

Women are primarily found as the head of human resource department.
Unlike other three cities, women are rarely found in leadership positions in other departments of administration in Hyderabad.

Figure 6.3: Women in editorial positions (news/ features) 73% 58% 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 27% 27% 15% 0% Male Female Yes No Not aware 77 It was encouraging to observe that at least there were women as editors in both news and features section.

However, representation of women is not adequate in these positions.
To break gender stereotypes in newspaper and to discuss new gender related issues; it is essential to have more women in such positions of leadership.

Only when we have more women deciding the content of news and features can we expect more sensitive portrayal and greater coverage of women‟s issues.
Opportunities to employees figure 6.4: Equal oppurtunity to cover any beat in the print media 73% 62% 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 31% 27% Male Female Yes No Similar to other cities, both men and women said they are offered equal opportunity to cover any beat at work.

Only 31% male and 27% female replied in the negative.

However, the trend of relegating „soft‟ beats to women and „hard‟ beats to men persists even in Hyderabad.
Female respondents from both national and regional print media said they broadly do gender related stories in the areas of health, art & culture, lifestyle and food.

There was only one female respondent who stated she does stories on city and district administration and focuses on lives of both urban and rural women.

In case of male respondents, the data shows they cover gender related stories in the sphere of politics, business, current affairs.
78 GENDER AND CAPACITY BUILDING/PROFESSIONAL TRAINING A salient aspect of the survey was to analyse the level of awareness/knowledge of respondents about contemporary gender related issues.

Accordingly, there were questions on participation of respondents in gender related workshops/seminars; their knowledge about Sustainable Development Goals and the draft National Policy for Women 2016.
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% figure 6.5: Experience of covering stories on gender 77% 69% 31% 23% Male Female Yes No It was heartening to observe, that majority of the regional print media organisations have a wider coverage of gender related topics.

77 % male and 69% female respondents (primarily from the regional print media) remarked they write on a range of gender related issues.
We then asked them whether they ever attended any workshop/seminar on gender or undergone any training in the field to enhance their expertise in the domain.

As figure shows only 50% female and 31% male respondents said they have participated in gender related programs.

None of the respondents have attended any training program pertaining gender.
79 figure 6.6: Participation in gender related programme 69% 50% 50% 31% Male Female 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Yes No A large proportion of respondents (male - 69%, female- 50%) stated they have never attended any gender related programs.

To report on gender and to challenge gender stereotypes it is important for journalists to be abreast about the contemporary issues.
While on one hand it is the individual responsibility to attend workshops/seminars pertaining to gender to enhance knowledge; on the other it is also the responsibility of the organisation to provide opportunities and encourage their journalists to attend such programs.
To effectively mainstream gender, an organisation should sensitise their employees about gender, create space for such discussions and motivate their journalists (male and female) to attend gender related programs so that they represent the various nuances of gender related issues.

It was disheartening to note that nearly 38% respondents are not aware about either sustainable development goals (SDG) or the draft National Policy on Women 2016.
Even those who have heard about these policies could not say which are the new focal areas related to gender mentioned in these national and international policies.

Lack of knowledge about such matter has significant impact on the quality of reporting on gender.

New areas of concerns related to women rights remain invisible and marginalised.

Thus, reporting on gender remains a tokenistic attempt to address problems of women.
80 GENDER AND ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE figure 6.7: Leaves provided to employees 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 27% 31% 0% 50% 0% 62% 65% 62% 73% 69% 27% 12% 15% 27% 27% 23% 19% l e a M l e a M l e a m e F l e a m e F l e a M 12% l e a m e F 0% 8% 12% 0% 0% 0% 15% 15% 4% 4% 27% 4% 100% 92% 88% 81% 81% 69% 65% 73% 65% 69% 12% 12% 19% 23% 23 8% l e a m e F l e a M 19% 12% l e a m e F Maternity Childcare Paternity Casual Earn Medical Extraordinary Study Not aware No Yes A sizeable percentage of respondents (male – 27% and female – 31%) from regional print media houses pointed out that maternity leave is not part of the formal leave policy of the organisation.
This brings out the deep seated gender insensitivity of the organisations.

Moreover, almost 60% of male as well as female respondents said they are not aware of whether there are provisions of childcare and paternity leave in their organisations.

Both childcare leave and paternity leave are provided to parents of children, especially in the first year of the child birth in recognition they may need extra leave to deal with various issues pertaining to childcare.
Absence of such leave in an organisation shows their lack of commitment and insensitivity towards the needs and realities of their employees.

The predominant forms of leave available to most respondents are casual leave, earn leave and medical leave.

Most of the respondents were either silent or are unaware of leave for extraordinary situation in the family or for study.
81 Provision of basic amenities 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% figure 6.8: Infrastructure Audit 0% 0% 0% 0% 27% 23% 15% 0% 4% 8% 35% 27% 12% 23% 23% 4% 4% 88% 12% l e a M 73% 77% 85% 65% 69% 69% 58% 73% 62% 58% 69% 23% 19% 15% 15% 38% 27 Day care Clean toilet Canteen Facility for PwD Pregnant Women Transport Not aware No Yes Day care Centre: It is interesting to note that while 73% percentage female have said there are day care centres in their organisations; only 12% male respondents have replied in the affirmative.
Lack of awareness about such facilities among male reinforces the stereotype that child related responsibilities are primarily considered woman‟s domain.

It is the responsibility of the orgnisations (which have day care centres) to sensitise their male employees as well about such a facility so that child related responsibilities can be shared by both men and women.

Clean and separate toilets: Majority of the respondents (male-77% and female – 85%) are satisfied with the toilets in their orgnisations.
However, there are at least 20% respondents who stated there are separate toilets but they are not clean and hygienic.

Also in many organisations number of toilets is not adequate.

It is unfortunate that the employers are still negligent about basic facilities like a toilet which is essential for the health of the employees.

Organisations need to understand 82 that provision of a clean and hygienic toilet is not a luxury but bare necessity.
If an organisation is to create a decent work environment it is essential to acknowledge the basic requirements of the employees.

Absence of clean and hygienic toilets has a significant impact on both men and women – their productivity and retention in the organisation.

Canteen: Almost 70% respondents said there is an in house canteen in the organisation.

The data showed the existence of a canteen is determined by the size of the organisation.
If the organisation is a small one, then there is no canteen.

For instance, 35% male and 27% female mentioned they do not have canteen facilities in their workspace.

Perhaps the organisations which have closed their canteen or do not have a canteen need to review their decision as it does impact the welfare of employees.

In case of women, provision of food t workspace, reduces her workload at home and gives her more time to contribute to work.
Facility for pregnant/lactating women: Most respondents mentioned there are no additional benefits provided to women.

The female respondents pointed out that absence of a restroom or a space for feeding the child does lead to women giving up their lucrative positions in print media.

Transport and travel: A large section of the regional print media organisations provide no transport to men or women who work during night shift.
Though travel arrangements may be made for women at night (38% ) only 27% male respondents replied in the affirmative.

However, most women said the organisations do not encourage them to work at night as there are no travel arrangements for them.

As a result women are predominantly confined to features section in the print media.

The domain of news reporting becomes a male bastion.
This clearly shows how systemic inequalities marginalise women in the workspace and diminish their chances of reaching position of leadership in the organisation.
83 DIGNITY AT WORK: POLICY AND COMMITTEE Policy on Sexual Harassment figure 6.9: Policy on anti discrimination and harassment at workplace 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 54% 62% 27% 23% 23% 12% Yes No Not aware Male Female As is evident from the discussion so far, print media houses (in particular the regional organisations) have not taken appropriate measures to either develop a formal policy on anti discrimination and sexual harassment (as per the Act 2013) or sensitise their employees about the various dimensions of this significant labour law.
It is startling to note that a large percentage of respondents have said they are not aware whether their organisation has any such policy.

This is indicative of the fact that there has been from no formal communication to the employees from the concerned authority.
84 figure 6.10: Incidence of harassment at workplace 92% 77% Male Female 23% 8% Yes No 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% As the figure 6.10 shows, while on one hand most of the respondents said they have not heard about any case of harassment in their organisation; on the more among the respondents who have heard about such issues – percentage of female is more (23%) in comparison to male respondents (8%).
This indicates that although women face workplace harassment (hence are more aware about it), reporting of such incidences is abysmally low.

It is due to low reporting most employees have the misconception that workplace harassment is not a problem in that organisation.

As a consequence, there is hardly any discussion on such gender related issues.
Moreover, in many cases respondents are unaware of what constitutes sexual harassment, especially male and hence are unable to recount whether at all they have witnessed or heard about any inappropriate behaviour at workplace.

Female respondents remarked that physical and verbal harassment are more common in organisations followed by mental and sexual harassment.
85 figure 6.11: Individual experience of workplace harassment 100% 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 23% 0% Yes 77% No Male Female All male respondents stated they have never faced any harassment at workplace.

Female respondents – a large proportion of them (77%) have been experienced harassment at workplace.

This highlights that organisations have not undertaken any measures to protect the rights of their women employees and have failed to create an enabling and safe work environment for them.
Female respondents who agreed to narrate their experience of workplace harassment said verbal and mental are the two predominant forms of harassment.

Due to fear of losing job and reputation women did not lodge a formal complaint with the concerned authority.
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% figure 6.12: Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in organisation 35% 27% 23% 15% 50% 50% Male Female Yes No Not aware 86 The survey highlighted that there is no awareness among respondents about ICC which the Act mandates every organisation to set up.

Even if the organisations have set up a committee clearly they have not arranged sensitisation or training program to make their employees aware about issues pertaining to sexual harassment.
Such laxity on part of print media organisations is disheartening.

It shows that while newspapers publish articles on women‟s empowerment and harassment at workplace; at the level of implementation – in case of their own employees there is lack of effort and commitment.
figure 6.13: Organisation of workshop to sensitise employees about the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013 88% 50% 42% Male Female 8% 4% 8% Yes No Not aware 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013 states that it is the duty of the employer to organise workshops to sensitise employees towards gender issues, including sexual harassment.
However, 88% male and 50% female respondents said their organisations (both national and regional) have taken no initiative to share knowledge and train employees about the various facets of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013.

Few of the respondents said the organisations did put up a notice regarding workplace harassment but it was inadequate.

Hence, most of the employees are ignorant about the various dimensions and ramifications of the harassment at workplace.
87 REPRESENTATION OF GENDER IN PRINT MEDIA: TREND AND CHALLENGES Figure 6.14: Change in the style of writing/ reporting/ representation of women's issues in the print media in the last 5 years 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 69% 58% 42% 31% Male Female Yes No Similar to other cities, in Hyderabad too, journalists interviewed as part of the survey were of the view that they have observed changes in the style of writing, reporting and representation of women in print media.
As figure 6.14 clearly illustrates, 58% male and 69% female respondents replied in the affirmative.

It was heartening to observe that more women than men were vocal about the new stories done on women.
It also highlighted that fact that gender is still considered primarily a women‟s domain and hence more than men, we found female reporters writing motley of stories on women – trying to address various dimensions of women‟s life (going beyond health, education and violence against women), unlike male reporters who primarily do stories on violence against women and women in politics/business.
The major changes in the domain of reporting/ writing and representation as flagged by male and female respondents are –  Women related stories are getting due priority and improved coverage.

The print media does not categorize women using stereotypical words such as „housewives‟.

However, the tendency to sensationalise and commodify women persists.

 Both national and regional print media now do more women centric stories where focus is on the women achievers.
In terms of writing, print media in order to protect the dignity of women ensures names are not mentioned in cases of violence against 88 women, rape survivors and child labourers.

Sometimes, background details of the incident that leads to revealing women‟s identity are also not explicitly written.
figure 6.15: Change in the coverage of issues/ topics related to women over the years 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 65% 58% 42% 35% Male Female Yes No As data shows more female respondents (65%) in comparison to male (42%) said they have observed positive shifts in the coverage of women related topics.

While this is laudable, it also shows more stories on women are being done in the features section (primarily dominated by women) than in news (which still continues to be male dominated).
The only news stories on gender which are covered by male reporters are pertaining to violence against women.

 As per the female respondents topics which are mostly discussed include – women entrepreneurs, success stories of women, human trafficking, conditions of children in juvenile homes, importance of breastfeeding, situation of widows in drought prone areas, stories on LGBT community, gender specific crimes, etc.
 According to male journalists new topics which are currently being written about are - varied forms of discrimination and harassment faced by women, sexual harassment of women at work, social media and trolling, acid attack, legal help for women, women and sports, elected women representatives in local self government.
89 figue 6.16: Gender sensitive reporting guidelines 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 65% 50% 42% 31% Male Female 8% 4% Yes No Not aware Gender Sensitive reporting guidelines are necessary to detect and avoid gender insensitive reporting and gender stereotyping.

Such reporting guidelines facilitate in enhancing the gender sensitivity of the journalist.
While coverage of gender issues have increased in the last 5 years; it is disheartening to observe that many of the print media houses in Hyderabad lack gender sensitive reporting guidelines.

Majority of the respondents (male -65% and female – 50%) said there is no formal gender sensitive reporting guideline developed by the organisation.

However, 31% male and 42% female respondents replied in the affirmative.
This highlights that although newspaper houses report on gender issues, there is no formal commitment from top management to mainstream gender in their policies and initiatives.

There is merely a tokenistic representation of gender issues.

In most cases where no formal policies exist, the editors in their meetings have sensitised the new comers and other journalists about how to report on gender issues.

However, informal induction by editors can create problem and further are open to misinterpretation.
MAKING WORKPLACE GENDER SENSITIVE: RESPONDENTS’ SPEAK Respondents from both regional and national media are of the opinion that developing a policy or setting up a committee is not enough to bring about gender sensitivity among staff at work.

There needs to be periodic review and effective implementation of the policy.

Organisation should have a strategic gender action plan.

Table 6.1 illustrates the suggestions given by respondents for effective mainstreaming of gender at workplace.
90 Table 6.1: Practical measures to be adopted by organisations for gender sensitivity Female Raising awareness about gender related issues at workplace Increase number of female reporters Male Attitudinal change through workshop on gender Workshop on women‟s rights, legal entitlements Provision of day care centre, canteen and clean toilets for men and women Organise personality development and leadership programs for both men and women Infrastructural facilities should be improved Women should have the choice to choose the Increase representation of women in decision making bodies Transport facilities during night shifts/ assignments Separate rest room for men and women beat Flexible working hours Equal pay should be given to women for equal work Leadership programs to enhance their managerial skills Women should be part of all committees at work Exclusive committee for women 91 Chapter 7 Summary and Conclusion As discussed earlier, the year 2015 has been a momentous year in the history of human development.
A new global agenda for eradicating poverty, inequality and injustice by 2030 was adopted unanimously by 193 Member States of the United Nations.

Gender is an integral part of this new framework of development.

The framework acknowledges that gender equality is a matter of human rights and forms the foundation of good governance and inclusive sustainable development.
It is worthwhile to note that while there is a standalone goal on gender equality (SDG 5); there are several other targets in the 17 SDGs which recognize women‟s empowerment as both an objective as well as part of the solution.
Gender is also integral to achieving SDG 8: Decent Work19 and Economic Growth - separate goal on ensuring decent work agenda which reemphasises the need to assess the gender sensitivity of work environment and promote suitable measures which will enable organisations to effectively mainstream gender into their policies and structures of operation.
The confluence of a series of events such as 20th anniversary of Beijing Platform of Action and the declaration of sustainable development goals in 2015; necessitated the need to evaluate to what extent today media promote gender equality both within the work environment and in the representation of women.

The common thread that runs through the data of all the 4 cities is that of covert discrimination.
There is no barrier with regard to women‟s participation in media management; infact the survey shows female participation has increased in media over the years.

What remains are actually invisible barriers – attitude, biases, presumptions, inadequate infrastructural facilities and lack of effective policy.

The task at hand therefore is to remove these covert barriers – attitudinal and systemic.

19 Decent Work is a concept coined by ILO.


It involves opportunities for work that is productive, delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.

Gender equality is at the heart of achieving decent work agenda.
92 The next segment will summarise the salient findings from the four cities.

As mentioned in the chapter on methodology, the study sought to understand gender mainstreaming at two levels – a) Within the workplace b) Within the content of the media SALIENT FINDINGS FROM THE FOUR CITIES 1.

Gender policy in organisations: As described in the earlier chapters, any organisation in order to mainstream gender needs to have vision, mission and a road map for implementation of gender-related measures.
A gender policy is a formal commitment of an organisation to gender sensitivity and an expression of willingness to mainstream gender.

Data shows print media organisations in Delhi and Mumbai have adopted a gender policy and have also taken steps to make their staff aware of the same.

Kolkata and Hyderabad however, fare poorly.

Print media organisation in both theses cities, especially regional print media does not have any gender policy.
Gender mainstreaming is done in an adhoc manner and is determined by the top management.

It is indeed ironical while many of the regional newspaper in Kolkata and Hyderabad are vocal about gender issues but with regard to representation of women in decision making bodies, provision of basic amenities, policy on safety at workplace they lag behind.

2.
2.

Women in leadership: The questionnaire had divided women in leadership into three parts – a) women in executive committee, b) women in editorial positions and c) women as head of various administrative departments.

 Print media organisations in Mumbai top the list with regard to representation of women in executive committees, followed by Delhi and Kolkata.

It merits mention that representation of women in the governing board is far from being adequate.
In most cases there is token representation of women with little or no say in the 93 management of the organisation.

Hyderabad presents a dismal scenario especially the regional print media organisations.

 It is heartening to observe an increase in representation of women in finance, marketing and advertisement departments which were earlier male dominated terrain.

Women are also seen in large numbers in human resource departments.
 One of the positive trends discernible in many regional print media organisations in the four cities was an increase in number of women editors.

3.

Opportunities in reporting and coverage of beats: Despite increased representation of women in editorial positions, it was disheartening to offer that in all the four cities women respondents largely cover „soft‟ beats such as social issues, art and culture, lifestyle among others.
News, crime, politics are still considered the domain of men as it involves travelling, night assignments and taking risks to get the information.

There have been changes in this pattern, but the change is extremely slow.

Lack of organisational support in terms of facilities and other arrangements are also reasons for women not getting opportunities to cover the „hard‟ beats.

4.
4.

Lack of supportive infrastructural facilities Studies have shown that supportive infrastructural facilities prohibit women from leaving jobs.

However, the survey showed most regional print media organisations do not have a day care centre.

A day care centre is essential for both men and women so that the responsibility of the child can be shared between parents.

The other glaring absence is additional support for pregnant and lactating women.
There is no rest room for women and hence women leave jobs either pre or post child birth.

Lack of provision of transport at night is another area of concern flagged by both men and women from the four cities.

Data from Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad showed that many regional print media do not encourage women to work in night.

These organisations adopt a protectionist approach towards women and say they do not allow night assignments for women so as to ensure their safety.
It is the responsibility of the organisation to adopt suitable measures to allow women equal opportunities at work.

Depriving of women of night 94 assignments curb their career growth and negatively impacts their chances of climbing up the professional ladder.

5.

Provision of paternity and childcare leave: While childcare and paternity leave are provided by some organisations in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata; awareness regarding these forms of leave is very low.
It is essential for an organisation to sensitise its staff about such leave.

However, many regional print media organisations in Kolkata and Hyderabad do not provide for such leave.

In order to enable increased participation of women in print media, it is imperative that organisations provide such leave which enables both parents to take care of their child.

Child rearing is not exclusively a woman‟s responsibility.
Provision of such forms of leave will bring in the much attitudinal change among men and contribute towards creating gender sensitive work environment too.

6.

Safety at workplace: In all the four cities, awareness about sexual harassment and discrimination at workplace is extremely low among respondents.

Most of the organisations do not have any earmarked budget for sensitising their staff about issues related to sexual harassment, the ramifications of such incidents and about redressal mechanism.
The compliance level of organisations to the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013 is dismal.

Organisations in most cases are of the opinion that since there are no reported cases of sexual harassment hence there is no need to set up any committee.

Many organisations therefore, do not have a policy on sexual harassment nor do they have the designated committee to deal with such cases.

It is worthwhile to mention it is essential to have data before reaching such conclusions.
Organisations can only have such data when they conduct gender audit or safety audit.

Without such surveys it is presumptuous for an organisation to assume there are no such incidents.

7.

Lack of professional training and awareness about gender related topics 95 In all the four cities, the predominant trend is while many journalists report on gender related issues; they do not have any professional training on the same.
Some respondents have attended workshops and seminars on gender and development and women‟s rights but in most cases the respondents are not aware of the recent policy or discussions on gender (for example: draft National Policy for Women 2016, SDG and gender).

It is important for print media to realize that capacity building of employees on gender is integral to creating a decent work environment.
Gender training will help journalists understand the different dimensions and ramifications of women‟s issues and help them address a range of issues related to women and girls.

To break gender stereotypes, understand and challenge constructions of masculinity and femininity both within the workplace and in the content of the media; gender training is important.

Men should also be encouraged to attend such programs as gender is not only the domain of women.

8.
8.

Gender sensitive reporting guidelines: The survey revealed both national and regional print media has adopted gender sensitive reporting guidelines.

The journalists are sensitised (through in house meetings) about the various gender laws and how reporting on issues such violence against women should be done.

9.

Coverage and representation of gender issues: In the last five years, the coverage of gender issues have increased manifold.
All the media houses today publish stories on various facets of women‟s lives.

Unlike yester years, these stories portray the agentic self of woman rather than portraying her as a victim of circumstances.

Even in stories on violence against women, the primary focus is on how violence curbs the rights of women and impedes her process of development.
While health, education and social sector continue to remain the mainstay in which majority of the women‟s stories are covered; data showed some of the new domains in which women‟s stories are covered include – Women achievers Women and sports Women and business Women and politics 96 Women and law Women entrepreneurs Furthermore, all print media organisations publish either a column/supplement or magazine for women.
In these products too, the tone is one of rights-based rather than care-based and there is a conscious effort to break gender stereotypes.

The problem which persists in the coverage of women‟s issues is most of the stories continue to be urban centric.

The voices and experiences of rural women, dalit women still do not find adequate space in the newspaper.
In fact role of elected women representatives in the local self government, participation of women in local committees such as pani panchayat do not receive attention.

Women in decision making is one arena is not addressed by the print media.

Topics such as legal rights of women, government schemes and programmes for women also receive short shrift.
RECOMMENDATIONS  GENDER POLICY - Every organisation should have a gender policy which will include commitment towards organising gender awareness programs, review of internal policies and structures, scrutinising the work culture and image of the organisations and mainstreaming gender in the planning cycle of all the programs.
 GENDER AUDIT - Mapping the workplace periodically or conducting gender audit is essential to get a fair understanding of needs and concerns of all the staff and be able to affectively address the differential needs of men and women.

Gender audit will also improve representation of women in media management.
 GENDER RELATED TRAINING - Gender sensitive training programs should be available for all so that journalists can play a more effective role in eliminating insensitive language and stereotyping from in the media.

 MONITORING AND EVALUATION - 97  INCREASE COVERAGE OF WOMEN‟S ISSUES AND ADDRESS NEW GENDER-RELATED TOPICS – the study clearly shows disjunction between current discussions on gender (at the policy level) and the coverage of topics in newspaper.
Gender is a cross cutting theme in sustainable development.

To achieve Agenda 2030, gender has to be an integral part of all sectors.

Hence, newspapers should make a conscious effort to address the interface between gender and a range of development goals such as energy, urban planning, water and sanitation, transport and others.

To sum up, development of a gender policy is the first step towards mainstreaming gender at workplace.
A gender policy will clearly outline the intention of the management to promote gender mainstreaming in the different facets of the structure of the organisation.

This intention will then translate into practical reality and lead to engendering of the workplace.

However, a policy which focuses solely on the organisational structure is not enough.

Many organisations have introduced changes but not always are they sustainable.
Organisation have not developed strategies which can effectively ensure retention of women, give them leadership positions and break the barriers which negatively impact their lives.

For effectiveness and sustainability of the measures implemented, periodic monitoring of the policies, norms and practices are essential.
The findings from all the cities underscores the fact that while attempts have been made to challenge gender stereotypes in the media and capture various facets of women‟s lives, much needs to be done.

Increasing commercialisation of the media continues to dictate the nature of stories/ space given to women‟s issues and further reinforce and reproduce gender stereotypes.
98 Annexure 1 Dear Sir/Madam, The Administrative Staff College of India has undertaken a study entitled „Assessing gender sensitivity in media organisations and content: Evaluation of selected print media houses in four metropolitan cities of India’.

This study is supported by Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The objective of the study is to: a) Understand gender mainstreaming in organisation b) Document good practices adopted by organisation to create gender sensitive workplace c) Document contribution of print media towards promoting gender equality, women‟s rights d) Understand action plan/strategy which will be adopted by print media to make media content more gender balanced and achieve gender equality by 2030 As part of the study we are conducting an online survey.
Responses are sought from journalists (both men and women) working as reporters and at the desk.

The respondents who participate in the survey are guaranteed anonymity and confidentiality.

The respondent need not provide his/her name and address.

However, the respondent is requested to provide the name of the organisations, designation and email address/telephone number (as mentioned in the questionnaire).

We request you to kindly spare 20 minutes to fill up the questionnaire.
Your valuable inputs/responses will help gather information about gender mainstreaming in both workplace and content of the media and help strategise for achieving the goal of gender equity by 2030.

We request you to fill in the questionnaire and mail it to us by 20th December 2016.

Please send your questionnaire to – sreerupa@asci.org.in or balbir@asci.org.in or srilekha@asci.org.in For any clarification please call at - 9052010239.

Thanking you for your time, support and cooperation.
Dr. Sreerupa Sengupta Assistant Professor Centre for Human Development Administrative Staff College of India Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad Mobile: 9052010239.

99 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE SURVEY 1.

PROFILE Name (optional): Gender: Age: If SC/ST/ Differently-Abled Designation: Organisation: Email id: Phone no: Years of work experience: Highest Educational Qualification: Any professional course in mass communication/journalism?

YES / NO If yes, please mention - 2.

What is the subject or beat covered by you?


------------------------- 3.

Do you cover/write stories on gender related issues?

Yes/ No a.

If yes, mention some of the themes ---------------------------- 4.

Have you faced any constraint while covering gender-related stories?

Yes / No a.

If yes, what kind of challenges/constraints -------- 5.

Do you think men and women get equal opportunity to cover any beat in the print media?

Yes/No a.

If no, what is the constraint?

6.


Mention some of the contemporary issues related to women‟s rights you have covered in the last 2 years.

7.

Do you notice any change in the style of writing/ reporting/representation of women‟s issues in print media in the last 5 years?

Yes/ No (e.g.

term ‘victim’ replaced by the term ‘survivor’ or increase in percentage of gender-related stories in areas of politics, business, sports, rural development, etc.)

a.

If yes, what is the change?


------------------------- 8.

Do you think there has been a change in the coverage of issues/topics related to women over the years?

Yes/ No 100 a.

If yes, what is the change/ new gender-related topics being covered?

9.

Given the draft National Policy on Women 201620 and the new areas of focus in SDG21, in your opinion are there any new topics related to women‟s rights which need to be addressed?

Yes/ No a.

If yes, mention atleast two topics - 10.


Does your media house carry any column/supplement or publish magazine on women‟s issues?

Yes / No/ Not aware a.

If yes, what is the name of the column/supplement/ magazine?

b.

Mention some of the important gender-related topics covered in that supplement/ column 11.

Has your newspaper run any campaign on gender related issues in the last 5 years?

Yes/ No/ Not aware a.If yes, what was/ were the topic/s?

c. What was the impact?

(Mention briefly) 12.


Mention any 2 or 3 prominent stories related to women rights/ empowerment carried out by your newspaper/magazine in the last 2 years.

13.

Does your organisation have a gender sensitive reporting guidelines?

Yes/ No 14.

Have you ever participated in any gender related programme?

Yes / No If yes, what was the topic?

15.

Mention the gender-related program you were part of – Workshop Seminar/conference Training program 16.
Have you served/ serve in any committee related to gender?

Yes/ No 17.

Are you member of any committee within your organisation?

Yes/ No a.

If yes, how many - 20 The Ministry of Women and Child Development has drafted a National Policy for Women 2016.

Currently, MWCD is inviting suggestions from the concerned stakeholders on the draft policy.

21 SDG is acronym for Sustainable Development Goals.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by world leaders in the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015.

SDGs comprise of 17 goals to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice and climate change.

101 18.

Do you feel there are enough women in the administration of your organisation?

Yes/No/ Not aware 19.

Are there women in the board of your organisation?

Yes/No/ Not aware 20.

Are there women in the top management of your organisation?
Yes/ No / Not aware 21.

Are there women in editorial positions (news/ features) in your organisations?

Yes/ No/ Not aware a.

If yes?

How many (approx.

number) – 22.

Are you member of the press club in your city?

Yes/No a.

If yes, what is the ratio of men: women in the press club 23.

Does your organisation provide for the following?


(State yes or no) Day care centre for children Clean, hygienic and separate toilets for men and women Canteen Facilities for differently-abled staff Facilities for pregnant women/ lactating mothers (specify) Transport for women and men at night 24.

What are the leaves that your organisation provides?

Please tick the appropriate box Yes No Not aware Maternity Childcare Paternity Casual Earn Medical Extraordinary ` 102 leave Study leave 25.
Do you know of harassment in your organisation?

Yes / No 26.

What kinds of harassment are these?

(pick more than one if needed) Physical abuse Verbal abuse Sexual abuse 27.

Have you ever faced harassment yourself?

Yes / No a.If yes, What kind ________________________ b.If yes, who did you approach -------------------------------- Mental/ psychological abuse 28.

Where did you face the harassment- within the organisation / outside the organisation while on duty 29.
Is there Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in your organisation?

Yes/ No/ Not aware a.

If yes, how did you come to know about ICC?

30.

Did your organisation organise any workshop to sensitise employees about the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013?

31.

Does your organisation have a policy on anti discrimination and harassment at workplace?

a.

If yes, how did come to know about it?

32.

Does your organisation have a gender policy?

Yes/ No/ Not aware 33.


Does the company ensure your safety when you are travelling alone on assignments?

Yes/ No a.If yes, how?

34.

Mention steps an organisation can take to make workplace gender sensitive.

THANK YOU