'Men own television': why women leave media work. (November 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: O'Brien, Anne
• Is Part Of: Media, culture, and society. Volume 36:Number 8(2014:Nov.)
• Page Start: 1207
• Page End: 1218
• Publication Date: 2014-11
• Subjects: creative labour -- gender -- informalisation -- networks -- screen production -- work culture; Mass media and culture -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Wireless communication systems -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.2305
• DOI: 10.1177/0163443714544868
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0163-4437

Abstract

While all media workers face challenges particular to flexible specialization in a networked economy, there are differences in career outcomes for men and women, which occur as a result of gendered work cultures. Within media production these gendered contexts manifest through three main factors, which compromise women workers and can eventually cause them to exit their professions mid-career. Women leave media work because of a combination of the gendered nature of work cultures, the informalisation of the sector and structural restrictions placed on women's agency to participate in networks. The interplay of these factors ultimately creates an impossible bind for many female media workers forcing them to exit media work.