CommonSpace columnist Kirsty Strickland says there is no excuse in 2017 for continued imbalance in political commentary
DURING every election campaign, there is – or at least should be – a heightened focus on balance.
This usually applies to the balance of party representation, but regularly in Scotland there are calls for it also to extend to balance across the Yes/No divide.
What too often goes unchecked, however, is the gender balance of the politicians and experts who appear on current affairs programmes. In theory, it shouldn’t be something that requires the same keen eye that political affiliation does. Every party in Scotland – even the Tories – has a mix of both male and female MSPs.
All-male panels are as common as switching on the TV during an election and seeing Professor John Curtice on your screen.
Though Holyrood is 65 per cent male in its political make up, there should be a reasonable expectation that all-male panels on programmes should be the exception, not the norm.
That’s the theory. In reality, all-male panels are as common as switching on the TV during an election and seeing Professor John Curtice on your screen. In the four episodes of Sunday Politics Scotland since 23 April, there was an all-male interviewee line-up on all except the last, which featured one woman.
Nineteen men. One woman.
If you include the round-up at the end of the programme, which usually features commentators and journalists, that brings the overall total to 21 men and four women.
I monitored Scottish current affairs programmes over the course of a year as part of a blog for Women for Independence. Men significantly outnumbered women, week in, week out. All male-panels were commonplace. Though there were a handful of individual episodes where more women featured than men, they were a rarity. In no single week did women outnumber men overall.
Though broadcasters do have the ultimate responsibility for the make up of their programmes, parties themselves have a vital role to play.
So that’s the reality, for those who will no doubt feel the urge to send me a screenshot they’ve unearthed of three women sitting on the Scotland Tonight couch as proof of a matriarchal conspiracy.
Gender balance matters because women make up 52 per cent of the population. Political discussion is something we should be consistently included in on a representative basis.
That’s not to say that unfaltering gender balance on every programme and every segment is always going to be attainable. There will be times when it is not possible, especially on the current affairs programmes that are broadcast every night.
However, the minimum we should expect is at least a focus on representation and recognition that all-male panels should never be allowed to become the accepted norm. Though broadcasters do have the ultimate responsibility for the make up of their programmes, parties themselves have a vital role to play.
If they are putting forward men as interviewees the majority of the time, then balance is going to be made far more difficult for the programme makers. Women 50:50 has suggested that parties are asked to put forward one man and one woman when asked for an interview, thus allowing broadcasters to pick accordingly, and avoiding the “we asked a woman but she said no” issue.
Women 50:50 has suggested that parties are asked to put forward one man and one woman when asked for an interview, thus allowing broadcasters to pick accordingly, and avoiding the “we asked a woman but she said no” issue.
I recently interviewed Nicola Sturgeon for an upcoming feature in the Scots Independent newspaper. We spoke about gender balance in current affairs. She agreed it was important and referenced the role that parties have to play in conjunction with broadcasters.
“We’ve all got to take responsibility. For political parties it’s about making sure we’re putting forward women to speak for us and then for broadcasters to make sure they have balance in their panels.
“It’s important just in the same way that having women in politics is important; you can’t be what you can’t see. It matters to make sure we’ve got the balance in our political debate but also that we are showing younger girls and women that women’s voices matter.”
We have nothing to lose and everything to gain by urging our political programme makers to do better. The quality of debate is improved when women and the diversity of our country is properly represented.
BBC Scotland and STV need to dust off their contacts list and expand it with balance in mind, then sit down with the parties and discuss how to make this General Election campaign the most fairly represented one yet.
During an election campaign, when politicians are lining up to make their pitches and discuss their policies, there is no better time to make strides in addressing this issue once and for all.
BBC Scotland and STV need to dust off their contacts list and expand it with balance in mind, then sit down with the parties and discuss how to make this General Election campaign the most fairly represented one yet.
Yes, it’s 2017 and this should have been addressed a long time ago. But let’s not be churlish; better late than never.
Picture courtesy of the BBC
Check out what people are saying about how important CommonSpace is: Pledge your support today.
