90% of all people - including women - have at least one gender bias. All biased gender social norms are harmful, but perhaps none has a more direct impact on women’s well-being and economic freedom than those related to their autonomy and agency in the workplace. The effects of these biases are numerous, and their causes complex - yet when tracking its consequences, the dots are easy to connect. Here are some of our findings:
- Overall, there were 4 mentions of male CEOs for every 1 mention of a female CEO; this bias is more evident when we look at headlines, where men are featured 12x more than women.
- This bias extends to women entrepreneurs who receive ⅕ of the coverage than their male counterparts.
- Although women make up 82% of the share of voice in entertainment news, they make up only 9% of politics and 18% of business-related fraud.
- Beyond the skewed coverage, gender bias also manifests itself in the narratives and language used to talk about female CEOs. The language used is more confrontational and competitive for women, whereas, for men, language tends to be more factual.
- For every 1000 articles about male CEOs, 83 mention money, with only 67 mentioning the topic of female CEOs.
Special thanks to Marine Tanguy, CEO of MTArt Agency, for her thoughtful contribution and inspiring this piece on gender bias. Her invaluable insights motivated us to explore and address this pressing issue. Read this report to learn how media, acting as both reporter and reflector of societal realities, becomes a platform that amplifies the broader inequalities experienced by women.