StopBigMedia.com: Female Voices

Female Voices

While women comprise 51 percent of the U.S. population, they own just 5.87 percent of full-power commercial broadcast TV stations and just 6 percent of commercial radio stations. These alarming statistics suggest that there are very few broadcast media outlets serving women's needs.

3 out of every 4 women are not served by a female-owned TV station.
The average radio market has just one female-owned station but 18 male-owned stations.

Research shows the positive impact of increasing the number of broadcast outlets owned by women.

Women are more likely to be local owners.
Female owners were more likely to own fewer broadcast stations, and more likely to be single station owners.
Female-owned TV stations are more likely to employ female news directors, and female radio owners are more likely to employ women as general managers.

But pro-consolidation policies continue to drive out female owners and raise insurmountable barriers that shut out prospective female buyers.

National women's rights leaders have expressed outrage at the disgracefully low number of female media owners and are calling on the FCC to take action to address this crisis.

Gloria Steinem: feminist icon.

"In this country radio has become among the least democratic media and I'm in mourning for this. It has become bad enough so that it has got to get better -- there's nowhere else we can go. It's become very clear that the connection between ownership and programming is direct. We need to have programmers that share the experiences of the people that they are programming for."

Kim Gandy: President, National Organization for Women

"There are so few women's voices on broadcast television, and part of the absence of women's perspectives stems from the absence of women owners. We are half of the population but only 5 percent of station owners. And the problem is getting worse -- the increasing consolidation of ownership is making women invisible."

Carol Jenkins: President, The Women's Media Center

"That women are acutely under-represented in ownership is part of the larger crisis of representation and participation in the media overall. In the case of radio, it's a pipeline issue: When 85 to 90 percent of general managers and program directors are men, women simply don't acquire the skills to run -- and then own -- radio stations."

Increasing media ownership by women is in the public interest. It would diversify programming and help break down gender stereotypes. And it would do a better job of meeting the needs of women, who comprise 51 percent of the U.S. population.

Because media consolidation threatens women's media ownership, the best way to increase women's ownership is to roll back consolidation.

Female Voices

No Merger!