Women over 50 under represented in journalism

[ArabellaScott]

https://pressgazette.co.uk/media-audience-and-business-data/who-are-uk-journalists-2025-age-gender-class-ethnicity-politics/

Journalists are ageing - jobs are increasingly more freelance, and there are significantly more males in the over 50 group.

Political slant is also interesting. Heavily leftwing.

Maybe I should get back in.

I'm sure journalism and the public would stand to greatly benefit from your input, Binturong.

I'm curious why it skews like that, too, though.

I think it is not just journalism. I do a lot of interviewing, as a lay panellist, for a particular professional group and am always struck at how few middle aged women there are. There are men of all ages, and a good proportion of younger women but middle aged women are rare.

My pet theory is that is is a combination of past sexism having suppressed the good ones earlier in their careers, current pressures on esp women in the sandwich generation dealing with teens and elderly parents, and middle aged women having fewer fucks to give and thinking twice about taking on extra responsibilities for no more (& sometimes actually less) money.

In journalism I suspect there is additionally present day sexism and thinking us dull old cows have nothing useful or interesting to say. How wrong they are.

Anyway @NoBinturongsHereMate get sharpening your quill!

I think that's a good explanation, @AlexandraLeaving.

My experience, and the reason I left, was that it was incompatible with having a life outside work - and I didn't have children or, at that point, ageing parents to deal with. That would certainly be increasingly the case for women as they get older and more sandwiched.

The hours were bad enough in my 20s. I definitely can't imagine having been in any of the higher level roles in my late forties when I was also having to shuttle across the country every few weeks to look after my father as his health declined.