Nearly three-quarters of all employees in commercial radio earn less than £14,000 a year, a new report claims. Breaking Glass Walls, based on research carried out in commercial and community radio stations this summer, details gender and employment patterns in the industry. Nexus Research Co-operative and Dr Maria Gibbons conducted the research on behalf of the Women On Air project in the University of Galway.
In general, it says, women in commercial radio work longer hours but earn less than men. While women occupy a variety of jobs from programme-making to administration, men continue to dominate programme-making, and progress in breaking down traditional barriers is slow.
In commercial radio women make up 14 per cent of management boards. In community radio - where there is a 40 per cent gender quota set by the IRTC - women make up 40 per cent of the boards.
"Women are significantly under-represented at senior management level in commercial radio, where only 5 per cent of top executives and 39 per cent of middle management are female," the report says.
"On the other hand, women make up 77 per cent of the general administration and sales staff. This contrasts with community radio, where 70 per cent of those employed at management/administrative level are women." Twelve of the 16 commercial radio stations that responded to the survey said they had an equal opportunities policy, while half of the 10 community stations that responded said they had one. None of the stations could provide a full statement of its equal opportunities policy.
The report concludes that the "glass ceiling", which segregates women at the lower echelons of power in media organisations, is less evident in community radio stations. "Community radio evolved out of community development, where women are prominent, and this would appear to have contributed to a general atmosphere of involvement by women in the sector," the report says.
"Commercial radio evolved out of pirate radio, which was male-dominated. It would appear that an 'old boy' network, coupled with informal recruitment practices, and the working patterns common to media professionals which make it difficult to combine parenting with a work role, may have contributed to the maintenance of male clustering in programme-making and in board/management positions in commercial stations.
"Despite the ethos of community radio, informal employment practices are also prevalent in that sector. Employer attitudes relating to the roles of women and men in the workplace would seem to discourage some women from working in radio-specific jobs, and confine them to office jobs - the `glass wall' - and to lower administrative levels - the `glass ceiling'."
The former co-ordinator of the European Commission's steering committee for equal opportunities in broadcasting, Ms Kate Holman, told a seminar on the report that many of the issues highlighted by the research were mirrored at a European level.
She said it was significant that the Women On Air research found women in the sector tended to be younger and have fewer dependents than men. "Throughout Europe, while more young, well-qualified women may be coming into the broadcasting industry, many others are dropping out when, after a few years, the pressures of their careers start to conflict with family responsibilities.
"Increased competition and deregulation, the creeping casualisation of media employment and the multi-skilling demanded by new technology have created an environment in which many programme staff are expected to be available at little notice, and for unlimited periods.
"The argument is, if you cannot do it, there is always someone else eager for the job who can. Already, women make up a higher proportion of temporary than of permanent staff across Europe, and there is a very real danger that gains made in recent years will be lost as many women reject this model of working life.
"Long and unpredictable working hours are indeed part of the `professional ideology' throughout the media. And no, it does not have to be like that.
"Jane Drabble, when she was assistant managing director at BBC Network TV, described how she vetoed a regular management meeting at 8.30 a.m., because of the problems it would have posed for women, or men, with family responsibilities.
"Danmarks Radio adopted a system of devolving working-time arrangements down to the lowest possible level, so that programme teams could work out their schedules amongst themselves to accommodate domestic responsibilities."