Portrayal of Irish Businesswomen in Irish Independent

Emme

The Irish Independent of 26th October ran an article about six Irish businesswomen at the top of the technology industry. So far so good.

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/wonder-web-women-29700691.html

Each woman is named and her career title given. Then a longer paragraph gives the age, marital status and number of children the woman has.

For example: Regina Moran

CEO, Fujitsu Ireland

Tipperary woman Regina Moran is married to Jim, who is a stay-at-home dad to their three children, Conor (17), Maeve (14) and Eoghan (eight). Regina leads a team of 350 people as CEO of Fujitsu Ireland. She is in her late 40s.

After that the woman is interviewed.

If the reporting in the article is anything to go by it seems that a woman's marital status, number of children and age still trump her achievements elsewhere. If the article was about six Irish businessmen at the top of the technology industry would there be a similar focus on their marital status, number of children and age?

Liam McPoyle

Or maybe it's drawing attention to the fact that women can have kids and if they want it can raise themselves to the upper echelon in their career.......

As an FYI, the Business section every Thursday in the Indo has an interview with a business person and whether it's a man or a woman, the first section in the interview highlights their marital status and number of kids they have......

newport2

It's usually portrayed in the media that women are at a disadvantage professionally because so much is expected of them at home, with kids, etc. The fact that successful business women have children is I think therefore relevent in an article about them, showing other women that, with the right support, it can be done. Likewise with a husband who stays at home to look after her kids. I think if just her career and position was covered, with no mention of whether she had children or not, the first thing someone reading might wonder is whether she did. That aside, most articles I read about successful businessmen will mention his wife and kids too.

It depends how it is mentioned you would have to compare an article about a male business person and a female business person and see if the article is slanted or if she is portrayed differently.

meeeeh

I think partner and children are usually mentioned regardless of the gender of person being portrayed. It is my gut feeling that not having children will be more likely mentioned in case of women.

would a newspaper paper doing an article on a male business person....say had a stay at home wife! I doubt it, yet it is somehow it is all right to say a female business person has a stay at home husband!.

Riskymove

meeeeh wrote: »

I think partner and children are usually mentioned regardless of the gender of person being portrayed.

yep, pretty much every profile like this I've seen gives a quick summary of family, where the person is from etc

Wompa1

Emme wrote: »

For example: Regina Moran

CEO, Fujitsu Ireland

Tipperary woman Regina Moran is married to Jim, who is a stay-at-home dad to their three children, Conor (17), Maeve (14) and Eoghan (eight). Regina leads a team of 350 people as CEO of Fujitsu Ireland. She is in her late 40s.

Sign me up for that stay at home dad gig!

Emme

Riskymove wrote: »

yep, pretty much every profile like this I've seen gives a quick summary of family, where the person is from etc

From what I've seen family is sometimes mentioned for men but not in such a prominent position. It might be further on in the article where they ask him what he does at weekends. He might say: I go hiking with my wife Mary and two sons at the weekends or I go sailing with my children. Having a partner and children doesn't factor as much in a man's business profile. It's as if these women have to have everything to justify their success as a businesswoman. If a woman is a top businesswoman but doesn't have a partner and children she is seen to have sacrificed her chances of motherhood for success. If her marriage fails that's her fault as well.

I think that in Ireland people are expected to have a partner (preferably marriage) and children no matter what their station in life. If people don't fit that mould they're considered odd. This isn't such a big deal in other countries.

Wompa1

Emme wrote: »

From what I've seen family is sometimes mentioned for men but not in such a prominent position. It might be further on in the article where they ask him what he does at weekends. He might say: I go hiking with my wife Mary and two sons at the weekends or I go sailing with my children. Having a partner and children doesn't factor as much in a man's business profile. It's as if these women have to have everything to justify their success as a businesswoman. If a woman is a top businesswoman but doesn't have a partner and children she is seen to have sacrificed her chances of motherhood for success. If her marriage fails that's her fault as well.

I think that in Ireland people are expected to have a partner (preferably marriage) and children no matter what their station in life. If people don't fit that mould they're considered odd. This isn't such a big deal in other countries.

Yeah but what you're also alluding to is that these are usually executive summarys written by the person themselves. Could it be that women find being a mother as a source of pride more so than men for being fathers?

Having said that, most mens bio's on Twitter include the word Husband or Father too.

meeeeh

I don't know if women have to have everything to justify their success as a business woman. For me it just makes their achievements more impressive. Because of biological and cultural conditions it is a lot harder for a woman and especially one with children to succeed in business.

Riskymove

Emme wrote: »

From what I've seen family is sometimes mentioned for men but not in such a prominent position.

I disagree, usually I'd see a seperate Text Box in the article setting out a few facts: Position: X From: Y Married to: Z etc

It's as if these women have to have everything to justify their success as a businesswoman

I don't get that from the articles. With respect, I think you are reading something into it that is not there.

That's not to say that you are wrong about your view, maybe you are. But I certainly don't see it here.

Blano

I agree with Emme, I really don't think there would be so much in the article devoted to how work affects family life & as much about family if they were interviewing men. Maybe a sentence or two but I think that'd be it.

I think motherhood is still seen as the most important thing to a lot of people. I get the vibe from articles like this that yes u can have success but how does that fit in with your family life/do u hv kids.

I really don't think if this was about businessmen it would be going into all these details of his wife being a stay at home mum and how he tries to get the right balance between work and family life. It could, but I think a lot less likely.

I think this balance of work/family life thing usually is talked about more in relation to women & how to "have it all" etc. I don't think there are loads of articles with men dealing with how they can "have it all" in relation to work/family life. I believe there are historical roots in this.

I believe this interview was carried out differently because they were women. The topic of kids was brought up with every single interviewee. I don't think this would happen if it was a man, it may be mentioned that he has kids if he had them, but I don't think it would ever mention anything like he sacrificed kids in order to have the career he does.

Wompa1

Blano wrote: »

I agree with Emme, I really don't think there would be so much in the article devoted to how work affects family life & as much about family if they were interviewing men. Maybe a sentence or two but I think that'd be it.

I think motherhood is still seen as the most important thing to a lot of people. I get the vibe from articles like this that yes u can have success but how does that fit in with your family life/do u hv kids.

I really don't think if this was about businessmen it would be going into all these details of his wife being a stay at home mum and how he tries to get the right balance between work and family life. It could, but I think a lot less likely.

I think this balance of work/family life thing usually is talked about more in relation to women & how to "have it all" etc. I don't think there are loads of articles with men dealing with how they can "have it all" in relation to work/family life. I believe there are historical roots in this.

I believe this interview was carried out differently because they were women. The topic of kids was brought up with every single interviewee. I don't think this would happen if it was a man, it may be mentioned that he has kids if he had them, but I don't think it would ever mention anything like he sacrificed kids in order to have the career he does.

Ever watch an awards ceremony? "I'd like to thank my loving wife and kids, she has been my rock and took care of things at home while I was away for blah blah blah"

Maybe. but while highlighting the success of the lady whilst being a mother, they were highlighting the fact the man was staying at home..so possibly doubley sexist?

Don't know if ya watched that talent show on RTE a couple of years ago. They made a point of showing the guy as a stay at home dad. Why?

Also motherhood is certainly weighted heavier than fatherhood. Just look at the court system in most developed countries. They lean more towards favoring mothers in legal disputes. 'Because a child needs it's mother'

Riskymove

Blano wrote: »

I agree with Emme, I really don't think there would be so much in the article devoted to how work affects family life & as much about family if they were interviewing men. Maybe a sentence or two but I think that'd be it.

tbh I think you are overlooking the point of the articles.

It is about women "bucking the trend" in IT companies so on that basis, I do think the information on how they deal with work/life balance etc is very relevant.

Its not some random interview with women CEOs etc

eviltwin

Had a quick look, don't see a problem with it tbh, its seems to be more a fluff piece about women in business than a serious look at the business women themselves so the comments about family etc are to be expected. If it was Time magazine I might have a bit more of an issue with it but its the lifestyle section of the Indo, tbh I'm surprised they didn't ask them what shoes they wear in the boardroom or their makeup tips for a busy career woman.

iguana

I know it's not quite the same but if you look at an article on anyone (with more than a stub article) on Wikipedia, there is a prominent box under their photo listing their spouse(s) and children. The same is now true on a google search of you google a very well known personality.
EG:https://www.google.ie/search?q=john+noble&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&gws_rd=cr&ei=5QhzUoLTBOaP7AaA0YEY

It just seems to me like the type of information that writers/editors believe readers want to know and they include it early on but not necessarily as part of the article as it may not be actually relevant.