Being Authentic: Gender Identity, Leadership Enactment, and the Case Study of Indonesian Women Newsroom Leaders

Abstract

ABSTRACT Globally, news organizations often maintain a male-dominated work culture, with a pronounced preference for men over women in leadership roles, mirroring trends observed in Indonesian newsrooms. This study challenges the misconception that women are less capable of leading newsrooms. Through in-depth interviews with 31 Indonesian women newsroom leaders, this research explores how women newsroom leaders in Indonesia deal with newsroom inequality and in the process, how they perform and negotiate their leadership roles in relations to their gender identity. Drawing from the theoretical framework of identity and anchoring on the concept of authenticity, this study identifies the varying understandings among these women on what it means to be a “true” newsroom leader and their tactical negotiations between their gender and leadership identities. Some respondents dismiss gender differences but enact masculine leadership features to belong in the professional context while others evoke their gender identity and establish femininity as part of their professional identity in newsroom. This research adds to the thin literature on women leadership in the journalism industry and contributes to the empirical and theoretical discussions on the different approaches to leadership as they pertain to gender.