THE MEDIA’S portrayal of female philanthropists is consistently “dismissive”, a Dublin breakfast meeting of women in philanthropy heard yesterday morning.
Opening the meeting, Jackie Harrison, of the Women’s Fund for Ireland, lamented the differences between reporting on male and female philanthropists.
Addressing about 150 women at the meeting, Ms Harrison said there was a “tendency for the media to be dismissive of women philanthropists”.
She went on to say that when the subject was a male philanthropist, journalists tended to focus on the size of their fortune, how they made their money and details of their luxury lifestyle.
“But when female philanthropists are mentioned, they are often described in trivialising ways, focusing on what they look like, their private life and their family connections,” she said.
The purpose of yesterday’s event, say organisers, was to raise women’s awareness of philanthropy and specific issues facing women in Ireland today.
The meeting was held by the Community Foundation for Ireland which managed subsidiary endowment funds for charities such as Women’s Fund for Ireland.
Guest speakers included Marcelle Speller, a participant on Channel 4's Secret Millionaireshow who made her fortune online, and Maya Prabhu, head of UK philanthropy at the English bank Coutts & Co. They were followed by a panel of female philanthropists which featured Norma Smurfit, founder of First Step.