Mapping gender inequality related to employment in the media sector in Romania

Abstract

In Europe, women in media sector are underrepresented as employees, and negatively discriminated against men in terms of wages, access to senior positions, job opportunities, and family-work balance (Council of Europe, 2019; EU, 2018; UNESCO, 2014).

The paper addresses the topic of gender employment inequality in media sector in Romania using a quantitative approach, based on national statistics. Romania as case study had the advantage of having a history of equal access to jobs for men and women, guaranteed by law and encouraged by the social organization of the country (a legacy of the former communist system in which women were supposed to have regular, full time employment). The national gender pay gap (3.3) is one of the smallest in Europe: second after Luxemburg in 2019. Romania is also a country in which inequality is prevalent at the level of income, employment and education, one of the most unequal in the European Union.

The paper’s aim is to answer the following questions:

Is media sector a feminised one?

How does gender inequality reflects in data regarding the employment and pay in media sector from Romania, between 2008 and 2019?