uk resource centre for women in science, engineering and technology

Raising the Profile of Women in the SET Professions within the Media –

The media undoubtedly plays an important and influential role in today’s society. It could be argued that it has a huge influence on the promotion of women in science, engineering and technology, where one high profile, positive representation can have an enormous impact on perceptions and career decisions. With this in mind, the UKRC’s fourth annual conference at Church House Conference Centre in Westminster raised discussion on the role and responsibility of the mass media in portraying positive representations of women in science, engineering and technology. 

Over 200 delegates came together to hear high profile speakers from the world of media, politics, academia and industry and discuss how the media portrays women and how we might challenge and change unhelpful portrayals.

 

 

“The media is recognised as a key player in society, helping to define people’s sense of taken for granted normality as well as sometimes facilitating change”  (Kitzinger et al 97)

 

 

 

The conference, expertly chaired by Kirsty Wark, the steely presenter of the BBC’s Newsnight, welcomed Ian Pearson MP, Minister of State for Science and Innovation who gave the keynote address looking at the difficulties girls and women face and what the government was doing to help remove barriers to entering and progressing in SET careers.

 

The Minister was followed by leading figures from the media, industry and academia including:

 

Sue Nelson of BBC Radio 4 who focused on writers and producers in the media and provided some insight into women in SET within the media.

Jenny Kitzinger of Cardiff University who revealed the findings of her study investigating how the media have represented women in SET over 6 months in the UK press, TV and in film.

 

“Although prominent women in SET may no longer be judged for the quality of their baking or their skill with needles, they may now be judged on the basis of their beauty, fashionableness or sexiness.” (Kitzinger et al 2007)

 

Elizabeth Whitelegg of the Open University whose UKRC commissioned research investigated the programmes broadcast for children and young people and the quality of their SET content.

 

Maggie Philbin TV Presenter and Broadcaster, who gave a personal account of what it is like to be a woman talking about science in the media.

 

Maggie Aderin of Science Innovation Ltd, who talked about her valuable outreach work, her experience as a scientist working with the media and her role as a managing director of a science based company.

 

Vivienne Parry Journalist, who countered much of the criticisms levelled at the media and its portrayal of women in SET.

 

The afternoon saw delegates exploring issues in-depth by attending workshops from researchers and experts such as Sir Roland Jackson of the BA, Peter Cotgreave of the Royal Society, Annette Williams of the UKRC, Katrina Nevin Ridley of the Wellcome Trust and Maggie Philbin.  The sessions addressed the key issues behind co-ordinating a strategy to forge partnerships between women in SET, SET organisations and the media.

 

In addition to the information shared during these workshops, delegates were able to feedback to the afternoon panel discussion the points and issues that could be brought together to help create future strategies to support women and work with the Media, to ensure women are fairly and equally represented.

 

The conference was concluded with a further opportunity to network over a glass of wine and view exhibitions from Queen Mary College, the JIVE North-West Hub and Eva-Lotta Johansson’s remarkable photographs of South African women miners.

 

 

Click here for the full 2008 Conference Review