The second round of the Ghana Women Expert Project survey found that the number of women interviewed in the Ghanaian media for their expertise has declined.
The survey, which tracked the number of women interviewed as experts on a wide range of topics, was conducted between February and May 2023. It found that only 12% of the experts interviewed by the media were women. This is a decline from the first round of the survey, which was conducted between February and June 2021, when 8.7% of the experts interviewed were women.
The survey was conducted by freelance journalists Nana Ama Agyemang Asante and Betty Kamkam-Boadu with support and funding from the City University of London’s Journalism Department.
It monitored four media outlets — Citi FM, Peace FM, Joy FM, and Morning Starr — for the period of four months. It found that the following trends:
● The number of women interviewed in the Ghanaian media for their expertise decreased by 6.6% in the second round of the survey.
● The ratio of male to female experts was 9 to 1.
● The total count of female experts on all shows was lower than the count of male experts on a single show.
● Although Joy SMS interviewed the highest number of male and female experts, Morning Starr allocated the most airtime to female experts with a total of 3 hours, 12 minutes, and 25 seconds
● Only 12% of the experts interviewed by the media were women.
● Only 113 out of the 936 experts interviewed during the period were women Female experts received less airtime with only 116 minutes and 4 seconds per week on all shows.
● Women experts were more likely to be interviewed about gender-related issues than about other topics.
The survey’s findings highlight the need for more media outlets to interview women for their expertise on a wider range of topics.
Call to Action:
● Make a concerted effort to increase the number of women interviewed for their expertise.
● Set targets for the number of women interviewed for their expertise.
● Create a pool of women experts who can be easily contacted for interviews.
● Train journalists on how to interview women experts effectively.
● Develop policies and procedures to ensure that women are fairly represented in their coverage.
