Kansas J School: 70% female
But given the dissolution of the news business, a topic I know something about, is that really such a wise career move? Don’t think this is just a newspaper phenomenon, however. Those TV news programs where you see a male and female anchor…go behind the scenes and you’ll find a staff of producers, etc., that’s mostly female.
From the Lawrence Journal World:
LJWorld.com
Women dominate j-school enrollment
By Brian Frederick - Special to the Journal-World
August 18, 2009
Though it has typically been portrayed on film and television as a male-dominated industry, females have increasingly dominated journalism schools throughout the country.
At the Kansas University School of Journalism, enrollment is currently 70 percent female, according to the school’s dean, Ann Brill.
“I’m sure there are a couple of reasons for this,” Brill said. “It’s probably a right brain/left brain thing. That sounds sexist, but there’s some truth to it.”
Men tend to be drawn to more analytical majors such as engineering or business, whereas women enjoy the creativity that journalism allows for, she said.
“Another reason is probably because the salaries aren’t great,” Brill said. “A lot of men are more concerned with making money.”
Many women are more interested in a stable position in an attractive market, according to Jesse Trimble of Columbus, a 2009 journalism school graduate and summer editor at the University Daily Kansan.
“I think one of the reasons is a lot of women get into the j-school is they want go into advertising sales and television,” she said. “I know the market is attractive, they make a good salary, and it’s a pretty basic concept. If you can do that well, you have stability, and that’s attractive to a lot of females, especially because you can’t just be a housewife anymore.”
Another reason why there may be an increase in the number of women is that some of the professions requiring a journalism degree are attractive to women, Brill said.
“Certain professions - public relations and advertising - tend to attract women,” Brill said.
Though in recent years there has been an increase in the number of women in the journalism school, it was not always that way, Brill said.
“It used to be the opposite. Back in the ’70s and ’80s, there were more men than women,” she said.
Originally published at: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/aug/18/women-dominate-j-school-enrollment/
August 18th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Back in 1989, when I graduated from the University of Florida, I was told by one of the Teaching Assistants that in both the Colleges of Journalism and Pharmacy, women were around 90% of the students.
The journalism building is next to the student union and I don’t remember seeing any guys going in or out of the journalism building when I was at the student union. Plus I was knew several women pharmacy students, but no pharmacy men.
August 24th, 2009 at 4:15 am
Wow. I knew sort of that Journalism, media, and Advertising were female oriented. But this is really astonishing. No wonder newspapers and TV broadcasts are having a hard time keeping male viewers. Wow.