Study by ProQuote Media: Women in leadership positions still outnumbered

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ProQuote chart: Progress made, but far from equality

Photo: ProQuote

According to a study by the ProQuote Medien association, women are still clearly outnumbered in senior journalistic positions at German media companies.

The organization, which has existed since 2012, demands that 50 percent of top jobs be filled by women and regularly lists the power share of women in the media executive suites in reports supported by the federal government.

On Monday, the association presented a new overview of newspapers, magazines, news agencies, central editorial offices and online media.

The figures refer to 2022, based primarily on the information in the respective imprint.

Among other things, 97 regional newspapers, 10 national newspapers and magazines (leading media), more than 60 consumer magazines and 100 journalistic online sites were considered.

The conclusion of the study is: "If you only look at the editors-in-chief of all press and online offers, the proportion of women in the magazines is highest at 39.5 percent." Berlin, however, relies on a structure in which topics such as entertainment are more in the hands of women, while technical areas are dominated by men.

According to the study, the proportion of women in the leading media has increased significantly over the past ten years.

The average value of the position-weighted proportion of women in management positions in the well-known national media has grown from 13.7 percent in 2012 to the current 38.9 percent.

The “taz” took first place with 64.2 percent, followed by “Zeit”, “Stern” and SPIEGEL (42.0 percent).

At the end of the ranking is the »Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung« with a weighted proportion of women in leadership positions of only 23.9 percent.

According to the study, online media, agencies and central editorial offices follow in terms of the proportion of women.

Regional newspapers are the worst performers in this area.

Today, 9 of the 97 regional newspapers evaluated are exclusively headed by female editors.

ProQuote Media did not name an overall result that includes all different media.

Overall, the proportion of women is increasing "incredibly slowly," said Heidelberg-Stein.

Study "not an end in itself"

Sabine Schicketanz, editor-in-chief of the "Potsdamer Latest News" said, "above all, it needs the will of those responsible for something to change".

Monika Pilath, a member of the editor-in-chief at »Zeit online«, reported on the consequences of appropriate appointments: »When more women are in the lead, more women come.

When teams are more diverse, more diverse people come.«

The chairwoman of ProQuote Medien, Edith Heitkamper, summarized the result as follows: “We can see that some media houses have already made great progress.

That makes us optimistic.« Nevertheless, it is frightening how far some other media are from parity, an equal chance for women in leadership.

From the point of view of Ekin Deligöz, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, studies like these are »not an end in themselves, they bring about action«.

The data are necessary to close the gap between male and female occupations.

"Only a different view allows for different decisions in management floors of the media world," said Deligöz.

feb/dpa