I refer to the article by Michael Leunig ‘Caught in the gender trap’. Not so long ago on ABC Melbourne, I woke up each morning to Red Symmons. He was followed by Jon Fine, Richard Stubbs, Raphael Epstein, Mark Colvin and Tony Delroy. All men every weekday.
Celebrating International Women’s Day by replacing male commentators, composers, and guests with women transmitted a powerful message about gender inequality in the media. Men dominate the airwaves the other 364 days of the year.
Last year, Daniel Ziffer, Senior producer of ABCs mornings with Jon Fine, set a target at 50% female guests to enable women to share time with men. Why? Because it’s 2017.
First published as a letter to The Age on 29 May 2017