Women Journalists of Color: Present Without Power
Poised for Power

"Although the world is supposedly changing in our favor, you cannot sit back and think that's enough. We must continue to fight to maintain and move past the positions we hold. It is our duty to one another and ourselves as minority women to work harder."
24-year old Asian/Pacific Islander reporter, Mid-Atlantic U.S.

Many of the women surveyed have great hope, optimism and endurance. Many have had fulfilling careers and exciting experiences; they have reached heights of which their foremothers never dreamed. But as the above comment shows, these women are aware that there is much more work to be done and more progress to be made.

Lingering remnants of racism and sexism, coupled with the profound uncertainty of how to encourage a diverse newsroom, are impediments that can no longer be denied or ignored. Women journalists of color have a vested interest in remaining at the table and contributing to journalism, but too often their energy is eroded by the clash of realities and issues within the newsroom.

In this atmosphere, the emotional and physical energy women journalists of color must expend trying to make colleagues comfortable, proving their worth and explaining their heritage adds a series of challenges and obstacles not experienced by their other colleagues.

The journalism industry in the United States is at a strategic juncture on many levels. The dominant culture in mainstream media is grappling with enormous challenges. It is struggling to make the race and gender mix that is emerging in newsrooms work, and at the same time, attempting to make a more relevant news product. For better or worse, women journalists of color find themselves at the heart of this transformation.

The International Women's Media Foundation believes this study is a critical first step in bridging the substantial perception gap that lies between what managers think is happening in their newsroom and what women journalists of color say they experience. Armed with this information, both managers and journalists can take the important first steps in opening the lines of communication and share their thoughts on how to reach common ground.

Initial steps include:

• Managers and women of color committing to more focused-and non-defensive-dialogue about the barriers to retaining and promoting journalists of color.
  
  
• Managers re-evaluating the effectiveness of their organization's diversity programs and actively engaging women journalists of color in creating more effective, beneficial initiatives.
  
  
• Women journalists of color being more aggressive in forming mentoring relationships, which play an important role in job satisfaction and retention. Also, these women should continually build on a support network with their colleagues.
  
  
• Managers re-evaluating the skills and strengths of their current minority female employees to determine whether they are being used to their fullest potential.
  
  
• Educators exposing students to the management track, preparing them sooner for obtaining crucial, decision-making positions.
  
  
• Managers making training workshops and seminars more accessible to staff and more aggressively promoting such programs.

If newsroom managers and executives are committed to reaching diversity goals and accurately reflecting their communities, they must respond to the very real concerns expressed by women journalists of color. If they make an effort to understand the enormous contribution women of color can have in the newsroom and in managing the newsroom, these women appear to be more than willing to meet them half way.

The results of the IWMF's study call for an institutional commitment to diversity efforts; one that goes beyond cosmetic changes, and that includes women of color in the process of that change. Industry managers must accept their essential responsibility to lead the way toward a more realistic and accurate depiction of the communities they serve. It is time for women of color to not only have a presence in the newsroom, but to have access to the power through which they can use their voices and make a difference for both the media industry and the community.