Women's strike: 30 editorial offices color their websites purple
On Friday at 11 a.m., as part of the «Purple Screen Campaign,» about 30 media outlets in Switzerland partially turned their websites purple and posted an article about gender inequality.
«An article by a woman could be here…., …but she’s on strike today,» read the text highlighted in purple at the top of the online edition of the View, the Aargauer newspaper or the Tagesanzeiger. The latter followed up at 11 a.m. with another live broadcast from the Federal Palace, interviewing the women protesting outside the Federal Palace live on air.
The online platform nau.ch featured the campaign a little further down the page. «What Demands Bluewin Has Yet to Meet» was the headline for the purple screen on Bluewin.ch. At Watson.ch The entire online platform was immediately «surrounded» by purple.
The vast majority of newsrooms that participated in the campaign were located in German-speaking Switzerland. These included, in particular, publications from the media companies CH Media and Tamedia (Confederation, Bernese Newspaper), Ringier (Blick Online) or the Republic. Bluewin published the material in German, French, and Italian.
In French-speaking Switzerland, too, the women’s strike was the main topic. Most newspapers« online platforms featured prominent live updates. However, the »Purple Screen” was hardly used in French-speaking Switzerland.
Clicking on the article brought up raw material in the form of lists and keywords related to gender inequality. The topics ranged from the economy to violence against women and unpaid volunteer work to genital mutilation, religion, and safety standards.
Among other things, the report noted that women earn an average of 18.3 percent, or 1,455 francs, less per month than men. It also highlighted the below-average representation of women in the National Council (32 percent) and the Council of States (15.2 percent). Seven times as many women as men are victims of homicide. Or: «Between 10,000 and 13,000 girls in Switzerland are victims of female genital mutilation.’
One group focused exclusively on inequalities in the field of journalism. It highlighted wage gaps between men and women ranging from 700 to 1,400 francs per month, as well as the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles or certain departments.
According to the editorial offices, men hold three out of every four executive positions. However, there are significant differences: While half of the magazines are led by women, the figure for daily and weekly newspapers is still 27 percent. In the private electronic media and online media sectors, women account for 20 percent of leadership positions. The distribution of leadership positions at the French-Swiss Radio and Television (SSR) is gender-balanced.
The picture is similar across the various departments: sports newsrooms are dominated by men (90 percent), while men make up 70 percent of the staff in the politics and business departments. Women are found primarily in the culture and entertainment newsrooms.
In addition, the proportion of women in newsrooms decreases with age. Among newsroom staff under 30, more than half are women. Among those over 50 or staff with more than 12 years of professional experience, the proportion of women drops to less than 30 percent. (SDA)
