Turkish Deputy PM criticizes women roles in media

ANTALYA - Doğan News Agency

Deputy PM Bülent Arınç (3rd R), Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin (4th R) and Arzuhan Doğan Yalçındağ, the chairwoman of Doğan TV (3rd L). DHA photo

Despite the increasing number of female media employees, the structure of the Turkish media is still male-dominated, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has said, adding that more female editorial staff may fix the media’s language which is “prone to violence.”

Speaking at the International Women and Media Symposium in Antalya, Arınç said women worked as correspondents, cameramen, photo journalists and columnists, but that when it came to determining broadcasting policy women were not given voices.

“A female-dominated media would break the discriminative, aggressive and polarizing media language hegemony,” Arınç said.

“Unsuitable language is used in the media on women’s subjects. The main subjects in the news are men and when it comes to news about women they are generally cast as victims, rather than in a positive sense. Only 25 per cent of news is produced by women, and this is generally ‘soft news’ such as culture, art, fashion or health, placed in the last pages,” Arınç added.

The symposium was moderated by Arzuhan Doğan Yalçındağ, the chairwoman of Doğan TV. Yalçındağ said inequality between men and women was not a problem only in Turkey, but for the entire world. “For a better and fairer world women should participate in art, science, social and professional life equally with men,” said Yalçındağ.