Book Review

Robinson, Gertrude J. (2005). Gender, Journalism, and Equity. Canadian, U.S., and
European Perspectives. Cesskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 241 pp., ISBN 1-57273-613-5.

Gertrude J. Robinson’s latest book Gender, Journalism, and Equity deserves to be reviewed
in this journal for several reasons: First, the book is relevant for survey research: it has an
international comparative perspective and documents findings of several journalist surveys in
Canada, the U.S., and Europe. It is primarily based on Robinson’s own surveys of Canadian
journalists in the 1970s and 1990s which are interesting because of their complex multi-step
sampling procedure and inspiring questionnaire design that combines question models
adapted from other journalist surveys as well as newly developed models. Second, the book is
relevant for public opinion research because of the important role journalists have in the
process of public opinion formation: On the one hand, they participate in constructing and
framing the public issues agenda. On the other hand, their selection of issues as well as the
way they describe events stylistically and give meaning to them is influenced by their own
socialization, their role perceptions and professional standards, their stereotypes and
individual opinions. Gender is doubtlessly an important category in this interaction of
journalistic work and public opinion formation: (gender) stereotypes are transmitted and
confirmed by media coverage, they frame the public discourse and become perpetuated in
social life. Third, the book is relevant because of its Canadian focus. Although there is a long
tradition of Canadian communication and journalism research, the country is quite frequently
neglected in mainstream communication research and stereotypical judgments about it
sometimes determine its perception in our discipline. Fourth, the book is relevant because of
its author. In this book Robinson’s academic interests and her own experiences culminate. It
is a exceptional document of the academic life and work of a resourceful and creative scholar
that has herself lived and worked in Europe, the U.S., and Canada and that has learned in her
own teaching and research that “gender matters” (p. 1).
In the introductory chapter Robinson argues that one of the main reasons why it is
important to investigate gendered journalism is because mainstream communicator
scholarship interprets gender as a mere biological variable. In contrast, Robinson points out
that it is a social construction which codifies women’s role in society. With regard to the
Chicago school of symbolic interactionism, which is part of her own academic biography, the
author argues that gender is one of the most important categories of classifying the world and
– as a social construct and outcome of communication – defines the self-conception of
individuals (e.g. journalists) and organizations (e.g. newsrooms). Furthermore, she describes
the media as carriers of these gendered social labels and self-conceptions. The media’s
influence as transmission belt of gender stereotypes derives from the fact that they are “major
public meaning-making institutions” and the “stages on which public opinion is created” (p.
16). Altogether, the first chapter presents a broad theoretical framework consisting of four
components: “a theory of gender, a theory of journalism as a group practice, a ritual theory of
communication, and a feminist epistemology” (p. 6).
This theoretically sophisticated introduction is followed by the second and third
chapter in which Robinson draws a portrait of the Canadian print and TV journalists: The
author insightfully depicts the particular sociopolitical system in Canada and its media system
and describes the structure and demography of the journalistic workforce in Canada. It is
shown that women have the highest representation in television whereas their representation
in the daily press and radio is comparatively low. Interestingly, this distribution turns out to be
nearly similar in other western countries (e.g. the U.S., Germany, or Denmark). Robinson
explains the overall better employment possibilities for women in the television sector with
the introduction of gender-equity rules in the public-service institutions on both sides of the
Atlantic and with the growth of the private television sector in the western world. In addition,
Robinson’s data suggest that women in Canada as well as in other western countries today are
(a) highly professionalized, (b) have a slightly higher educational background than men, and
(c) have nearly the same level of professional experience. Hence, the author argues that
formal education and professional experience cannot serve as explanatory variables when
analyzing the apparent gender differences in the journalist workforce. Robinson also
demonstrates that there is a reduction of status differences in newsrooms indicated by the kind
of news women and men usually cover. It is shown that although today many issues are still
gendered – sports for example is regarded to be a male beat whereas lifestyle is a female one
– changes in topics have occurred: in the 1990s much more women were assigned to so called
“hard news” than in the 1970s. Therefore, Robinson states that there was a significant move
towards gender equality in this domain of newsroom work. Finally, the author shows that
women also moved up the ranks in newsroom hierarchy in the press and in television and that
gender differences also decreased in the field of salaries and remunerations. In summary,
when considering formal indicators (e.g. education, position, income) it seems that females
made a remarkable progress in the past 30 years. However, when considering more informal
indicators it becomes apparent that journalism is still sex-stereotyped.
Subsequently, the fourth chapter contains a detailed international comparison of rather
informal dimensions of journalistic work such as journalistic role conceptions, ethical
understandings, gendered interactions in newsrooms, work expectations and workspace
pressures. Robinson shows that there are differences in journalistic attitudes (a) between
females and males, (b) between different media sectors, and (c) between different countries.
The self-conception of Canadian journalists for example, especially of females, is in some
points much more similar to European countries like Great Britain than to the U.S. In
addition, distinctions in journalistic attitudes were much more pronounced in Canada. The
comparison of women’ and men’s perception of newsroom climate also documents gender
differences: in all western countries women perceive themselves as outsiders. Male
communication styles (e.g. “lockerroom humor”) and their informal networks (e.g. after-work
“drinking bouts”) serve as gender barriers excluding women from parts of social interaction.
In the fifth chapter, Robinson again turns to the hierarchies in the media business and
discusses the “glass-ceiling” phenomenon: Although the author diagnoses a significant
progress of females in the media sector she argues that they are still marginalized frequently:
“The comparisons of Canada’s two media industries, the daily press and television, with those
in the United States and western Europe demonstrate that barriers to the promotion of female
staff exist in all countries and that gender combines with and reinforces these barriers” (p.
108). The two major factors that inhibit career development for female journalists are (a) the
difficulty of combining professional with family responsibilities and (b) the fact that at the top
management levels, hiring criteria are more informal than at the bottom.
Based on her empirical findings, the author discusses in the sixth chapter the success
of equal opportunity legislation in North America and Europe. Robinson concedes that equity
legislation in general contributed to the significant progress of females. Her international
comparison, however, demonstrates that there are differences in the effectiveness of the
legislation models due to their different implementation. According to the author, Canadian
legislation is the most advanced instrument in the world today because it was constructed
conjointly by the public (broadcasting media) and the private sector newspaper industries.
In the seventh chapter Robinson turns from the communicator to the recipient
perspective: Based on the finding that the female media audience in North America is mostly
discontent with both the press coverage and television programming the author argues that the
media largely fail to address female interests on the one hand and their favorite narrative
styles on the other hand. According to Robinson, the perception of many females that they are
underrepresented in the media content and that the portrayal of female subjects usually itself
is gender stereotyped also contribute to their discontent. She argues that the fact that more
women entered the media professions between 1975 and 1995 had an influence on the
handling and production of media content as well as on the style of (news) reporting: the
range of topics has widened and the treatment of sources and narrative conventions have
changed. Against the background of this progressive trend Robinson demands continuing
efforts to change news values, news ideologies, and journalistic styles which are the most
important frames of reference for media content and – in consequence – for the public
discourse and the formation of public opinion.
In the final chapter, Robinson again changes the perspective and turns towards the
question how the public sphere has been influenced by globalization and convergence in the
media business and how gender interacts with these two major processes. She argues that
ongoing concentration processes in the media sector challenge the progress towards a more
diversified and more egalitarian media profession. She points out that the growing dominance
of commerce in the media business undermines the media’s role as an openly accessible
public platform that enables the discussion of public issues which are relevant for society and
its diverse segments. Accordingly, the author demands a progressive media policy that takes
in account citizen interests and that promotes an egalitarian agenda.
Robinson’s analysis is a unique and important piece of academic literature: It is the
first nationwide survey on the position of women in the Canadian daily newspaper and
broadcasting professions. It is systematic, rooted in theory and argues from empirical
evidence. It focuses on gender, it is comparative, and it explores the impact of equity
legislation on the profession. It uncovers the systemic biases in the social reproduction of the
journalism profession and its potential impact on the public, as well as on society in general.
Finally, the book outlines strategies for overcoming these biases and for helping journalists to
fulfill their social functions in a more comprehensive manner.
Nikolaus Jackob