Odessa online media cite 33% of experts females and 67% of experts males

Odessa online media twice as much cite experts men than experts women. Particularly, this gender gap between men and women  in journalistic publications has been seen in political and economic news.

Such figures we got in the framework of a sampling analysis of five prominent Odessa news websites that the Institute of Mass Information held from February 10 to 14, 2020. In total, 250 news feeds were analyzed ("Dumska", 048 , "Trassa-E95 ", USI, "Odeskaya zhyzn").

The most of balance in expert comments was revealed in "Odessa.Online" web-based edition. The monitoring found that 45% of all analyzed comments were provided by experts males and 55% by experts. females On Dumska website, women expertly commented on 36% of the news. At the sites "USI" and "Odeskaya zhyzn" these figures were respectively 32 and 31%. The less experts females were cited by "048" website (14% of all news items with expert comments).

The study revealed that mismatch was observed mainly in expert reports. For instance, the average presence of experts females in political news published by regional media was only 14%. At the same time, our content analysis did not revealed any woman’s expert comments in economic news.

Political news mainly concerned decentralization reform and regional policy. As, for example, in the news of the site "USI" "Communities near Odessa: no boundary of unified territorial community around the metropolis", citing an expert female opinion of the deputy mayor of the town of Yuzhne. This trend could be explained, since they have much more women in administrations of local councils and newly created communities, than in big cities or in government bodies in general.

The idea of absence of experts females for economic news in Odessa is to be contested only by the fact that at several economic departments of Odessa national University has more than 30 specialists women!

The stereotyping of gender roles in our society is clearly reflected in Odessa mass media activity. Cultural news are used to quote 81% of female experts, as compared to total number of experts in the culture field. For example, in the news of the site "048" " In Odessa gathered coffee makers from all over the country " the meeting is expertly commented by the local female barista, and in the news of the site "USI" " Reconstruction of the Preobrazhensky Park: they promise to built here an amphitheater and memorial complex like in Berlin " cite the comment of the director female of the Department of Culture and tourism of the Odessa City Council.

In the social sphere (education, medicine, etc.), the gender balance is partially balanced, accounting for 39% of women's comments and 61% of men's comments. There have been many news stories about quarantine in Odessa schools and the threat of the coronavirus epidemic. “Odesa.Online” cited several experts females in its news (" The education has to be resumed on February 17 ") and "Odeskaya zhyzn" (" Five people checked for coronavirus in Ukraine ").

Unfortunately, there are no expert females commenting crime news, emergencies and, unexpectedly, the ecology.

During the monitoring, a curious tendency was revealed as to protagonists heroes and heroines of the news: in economic news, the number of heroines was up to 25% (of the total number of heroes and heroines in the news). Also, only 7% protagonists females were mentioned in political news and 19% of them were in crime news, emergencies and road accidents (from the total number of heroes and heroines). At the same time, of the total number of heroines in the news, 50% were of criminal topics, another 13% were of cultural and sports stories.

This material was made possible thanks to support of the American people through the USAID "Media Program in Ukraine" project, implemented by the international organization Internews. The content of this material is the sole responsibility of the Institute of Mass Information and does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the US Government, or Internews.