One of the biggest problems in the American workforce is not just that the unemployment rate is hovering around 10 percent, but to realize the disparity between men and women in management job positions. This is an issue I have addressed several times in this blog – every few weeks or so, a new study is released that shows the prominence of men in management positions in a certain field. This gap goes far beyond another big issue – the difference in pay between the sexes – but seems to hold less weight than the latter.

A recent story in the Seattle Post Intelligencer explains a recent study which found that men have a significant amount of power in the global media world:

“Women have made strides in many of the world’s newsrooms but still face significant barriers, especially in top-level management and reporting positions within media companies, according to a study being released Wednesday.The researchers found that 73 percent of the top media management jobs are occupied by men, compared with 27 percent by women. Among the ranks of reporters, 36 percent were women.”

The study, completed over the course of two years, also found that this margin was even greater in other countries like Japan, where men outnumber women 6-to-1. However, the article says that there was some growth in certain areas more than others:

“The findings did offer a few bright spots for women. Among senior professionals, such as news-gathering, editing, writing and anchoring jobs, women were near parity, holding 41 percent of those positions. Other findings show the numbers of women in the news media varied dramatically by region and company position.”

Thankfully, executives from the conference where the study was released are looking to vote on a proposed plan of action that could help women get into the management sector of the media market more effectively. It is definitely a needed change!