Employment and positive action for women in the television organizations of the EEC Member States

Directorate-General For Translation European Commission

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION
• Nombre de lectures: 29
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 8 Mo

Extrait

conmi ssion of the European communities
ETPLOYiETT AilD POSITIYE ACTIOI{ FOR TilET
IlI THE TELEVISIOT ORGATIZTTI$IS
OF THE EEC TEMEß STATES
ltfa rga ret Ga t t aghe r
Vi s i t ing Resea rch Fe t tow
The City University, London
DocumentThis document prepared has been for use rithin the Commission. It does not
necessarity represent the Commissionrs position.officiat
- Copyright ECSC-EEC-EAEC, Brussets Luxembourg, 1987
Reproduction is purposes, provided authorized, except for thecommerciaI
source is acknoytedged.PRELIMINARY REMARKS
1. trithin programme the context of the New commun'ity Action for
the Promotion of Equat Opportunities project for lJomen, a llas drawn
up by the Commission of the European Communities and reseanch carried
out by independant researchers
2. According to the provisions of Action programme 16 of this which
rrthe is aimed at a changing of attitudes, changing vaLues
to which the ten t{ember States subscribe principLe positivein and the
changes they entai L must therefore put across public be to the espe-
ciaLLy through the mass mediatr. In order to achieve this, it is provi-
ded that the particutar Commission in :
rrwitL launch measures at Community LeveL to hasten changes in attitudes
by invoLving (radio, nationaI information networks teLevision,
hromenrs magazines, the press) and to stimulate cooperation between themrr.
3. perspective, In this the anaLyses and proposals contained in this
research provide can food for thought, discussion and stimuLate
appropriate initiatives.
These anaLyses proposaLs and express the views of the author/s
alone and do not necessarity represent the opinion of the Commission
of the European Communities.CONTENTS
THE FOCUS ON WOMEN AND TELEVISTON I
DISTRIBUTTON OF !{OMEN AND MEN IN THE ORGANIZATIONS 7
proportion l{omen as a of the Terevision !{orkforce 8
The Sectoral Distribution of Women and tten 10
!{omen and Men in the Television Hierarchy 25
power The Earning of Women and Men 30
RECRUITMENT, PROGRESS AND TRATNTNG 35
lVomen and post: Men at the Starting Television
Recruitment 36.
Staying progress the promotionCourse: and 45
Getting Ahead: Training Opportunities s1
DIMENSIONS OF DTFFERENCE 57
A Demographic Sketch 57
promote Conditions Which Differences 56
parenthoodProvisions for 72
The Myth of Female Absenteeism 78
MANAGEMENT, DECISTON-MAKING AND CHANGE 8t
Women in Television Decision-Making 8t
The Potential for Change 85
EXPERIENCES TN POLTCY DEVELOPMENT AND TMPLEMENTATTON 9I
freland: the Organization fnitiates 9I
The Netherlands: the Government Enables lO5
The united pressures Kingdom : a combination of Lzo-11.-
L22(a) The BBc
(b) 131TelevisionIndependent
14I(c) The Thames Experience
L47(d) Channel Four
Structures,Germany: Different Denmark, France,
155ApproachesDifferent
163Beginnings and EndingsBetgium, Greece, ftaly:
L67ACTIONEQUAL OPPORTUNITIES AND POSITIVE
I 68Career Development Removing Blocks to Successful the
Blocks to Implementationthe
r7lPoliciesof Equal Opportunities
L75RECOMMENDATTONS FOR DISCUSSION
L75Basic MechanismsAt Organi-zational Level : the
178ActionsOrganizational Level : Specific At the
I7B(a) AccessJob
t80(b) Compensation
181(c) Training and Career Developrnent
L82(d) Working Conditions
183(e) and DisseminationInformation
184LevelsAt National and Regional the
rB5FOOTNOTES
189REFERENCES
r91TakenAPPENDIX : The Approach
t93zationsThe Organi
196jectthe Pro Notes on
199fnformation ScheduleTHE FOCUS ON !{OMEN AND TELEVTSTON
rf the Good Lord had intended us all
having equa I rights go to out to \^/ork
' and behave equal ly, He real h/ouldn ly t
have created men and h/omen.
The date was L979. The speaker was the secretary of state
for social services in the British government. The occasion
was the transmission of peak-time a television programme
with a regular audience of some one and a harf milrion
viewers. The Minister's remark $/as a paradoxicar, but
predictable, coda to a decade which had seen the introduction
parliament of f our Acts of promising equality for r^/omen
workers in the united xingdom. Male unemproyment doubred
between 1975 and 1980 but, despite the equarity legislation,
female unemployment trebled over the same period. The
ratio of women's earnings to those of men decreased between
L977 and r980. rn l98r only 6t of apprications made by
women to tribunals uncler the Sex Discrimination Act r^/ere
heard and upheld, although l0t of men's applications were
successfur. rhis relative failure of legislative measures
was not unique to the united Kingdom. By the early 19g0s
it was clear that laws against unequal pay and sex tliscrimin-
ation enacted in most European countries during the prev-
ious decade, r^rere having a very rimited ef f ect on entrenched
patterns of inequality which had built up over centuries.
The principle positive of action, officially and successfurly
impremented in the united states since r970, gained recog-
nition as a necessary component of any constructive equal2.
opportunities PoIicY.
strength of traditionalThese developments, acknowledging the
between womenattitudes in maintaining systemic inequality
of the massand men, turned attention to the importance
of ne!{s, information'media. Highly visible, major providers
are undeniably aand entertainment, the media in Europe
whichsignificant in network of influences element the
sourcepublic is now the main form opinion. Television
preferredit is the of news for the majority of adults;
heavy vi-ewers.medium of children, who are particularly
Community'European Economic In the ten countries of the
population and transmitstelevision reaches 99t of the
each week; somea collective 1400 hours of programming
the Federalindividual countries for example, France,
moreRepublic Germany United Kingdom transmit of and the
progralnme per week. All but two televisionthan 2OO hours
of publicrun by some form channels in the EEC countries are
'public provide service'.company and are required to a
and the fBAThe commercial systems, RTL Luxembourg two in
governmentalUnited Kingdom, also operate under in the
at the veryconcessions with constraints imposed linked
- by professional codes of conduct.least
climate ofchanging social Inevitably, therefore, in the
organizationsI980s television the late 1970s and early
came toa number of cases, came to be seen indeed, in
array ofin an see themselves as critical components
opportunities.on development of equal forees bearing the
National CouncilUnited Kingdom, when the For example in the
positive actiona series of for CiviI Liberties launched
organizationspilot projects of the first in L979, one