Female expertise in public discourses: Visibility of female compared to male scientific experts in German media coverage of eight science-related issues.

Abstract

A fair (public) representation of women is one of the most discussed questions of our time. The way in which media coverage (re)produces genders may affect individual and collective thinking and the perceptions of women in society. We analyse the representation of female scientists in German news media coverage of eight science-related risk issues and compare male and female experts regarding their relative scientific reputation, the number of references and the content of their statements. Our findings show that female scientific experts are less visible in German media coverage than their male colleagues and that they are underrepresented compared to the respective proportions in the relevant research areas. At the same time, our data relativize the extent of the gender visibility gap - after controlling for hierarchical position and scientific reputation, the differences become rather small. We find no evidence of discrimination against female scientific experts through journalistic selection routines.