Women journalists in Spain: An analysis of the sociodemographic features of the gender gap

Abstract

Sociodemographic features and their relative weight related to the gender gap between male and female journalists in Spain are analyzed. A national representative survey of 390 journalists was carried out as part of an international study “Worlds of journalism”. The results show that patterns of female inequality within Spanish media companies are routinely cited in scientific literature (underrepresentation, barriers in their professional careers, and lower salaries than men). The results also confirm the 3R hypothesis (ratio of Recurrent and Reinforced Residuum): men hold three quarters of the posts with managerial responsibility and make two thirds of the decisions related to content, in spite of the fact that female journalists have higher levels of academic education and are therefore better trained for journalistic practice. Women are also paid lower salaries and tend to hold positions with a higher editorial responsibility in digital media, where the greatest progress towards equality is shown.