i subscribe to the waikato times because i feel i have to rather than because i want to. as a politcal activist, i have to keep up to date with what's happening locally, as well as being aware of what everyone else is reading, especially around the political news. and what they're saying via the letters to the editor and opinion pieces. i know i should be subscribing to the herald, the dom & a couple of the sunday papers as well, but one has to draw the line somewhere. and surely, that's what the internet's for!
anyway, today i'm looking at the business section of the waikato times (3 pages in all). pretty much the whole front page of this section is taken up with what "waikato people" are wanting from the budget. there are nine people's photographs on this page. one is dr cullen. guess what the other eight of them look like. go on, before reading further, take a guess.
there is not one coloured person. there is not one person under forty. and there is not one single female. "waikato people" are apparently all white older males. the persons photographed and whose opinion has been sought are: roy crawford (uni of waikato vice-chancellor); bill gallagher (chair and CEO, gallagher group); stew wadey (president, waikato federated farmers); theo de leeuw (managing director, CB richard ellis ltd - real estate agents); allan webb (owner/operator, regent theatre, te awamutu); kevin geraghty (owner, judge valley wine); murray gutry (CEO, perry group ltd); and andy west (CEO, agresearch).
then there are people not photographed whose opinion has also been reported. these are: stuart mills (vice-president, nz police association); bill noble (principal, fairfield intermediate); russell sinclair (regional manager, retail association northern); wayne walford (CEO, waikato chamber of commerce); jos koopman (CEO, ambreed); tim mackle (CEO, dairynz); derek fairweather (CEO, waikato innovation park); craig climo (CEO, waikato district health board); and yippee, a coloured person, suresh chimanlal (owner, new world rototuna). for those unfamiliar with indian names, suresh is definitely a male.
so 17 waikato people consulted, and they couldn't find a single woman with an opinion? not even a female school principal? no female business-owner/operator? they didn't bother also to ask tainui holdings, a pretty big player in the waikato.
incidentally, there are actually 2 female names on the story. 2 of the 3 reporters who compiled this report were female: nikki preston and kathy graham. i wonder if it didn't bother them that no women were interviewed, or just that they didn't even notice.
it's bizarre. and it proves that women have much less of a public voice than males. maybe the women would all have said the same or similar things. that's not important. it's the invisibility that really bothers me. it's not good enough. "people" means males and females. the paper should at least be honest and have the tag line read "what are waikato men wanting from the budget tomorrow?"
5 comments:
"what are waikato men wanting from the budget tomorrow?"
Shouldn't that be "what are dead, white waikato men wanting from the budget tomorrow"?
Umm, stargazer, you have not discovered that the Waikato is a hotbed of racist, sexist media. You have discovered that the capitalist media is ..... class conscious!
The media talk to white, middle-aged men in the Waikato because (as you noted) they ALL represent business or state interests. The fact that these ceo's happen to be white and middle-aged is probably representative of Waikato business. This bias in ceo makeup may be racist and sexist, but the fact that the media asked them and they happened to be 40+ white boys is not the fault of the journo's.
Odd they missed Tainui, but 1 missed organisation is not significant per se.
It would be far more interesting to get an analysis of their thoughts and how they differ from a typical Waikato worker (male and/or female).
anonymous, it's deeper than that as far as i can see. first, the budget is not just for business or state interests. it's for everyone - the employees, superannuitants, children etc. by providing a report so obviously biased towards business and state interests is problematic for me.
second, some of the people interviewed were business owners/operators and a school principal. are you honestly saying there are no competent women in these groups? or that the view of the women's section of federated farmers is irrelevant? what about the women's section of the chamber of commerce?
third, yes it is also problematic that there are so few women in positions of power in the waikato and i suspect around the country. tell me again how the feminazi sisterhood are ruling this country. tell me again about how it's women that have all the power these days. tell me again about how we treat women as equals in this country. and see if you can say it with a straight face!
*swoon* Anjum I just wanted to say, rock on! That was fantastic, both the post and the comment.
"i wonder if it didn't bother them that no women were interviewed, or just that they didn't even notice."
Given my experience with the place, I dare say the latter.
And anonymous: how about asking the CEO of the Hamilton business that won Business of the Year, Best Not-For-Profit & Public Sector Organisation Award, Best in Innovation award, and Chief Executive of the Year last year in the Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards?
Oh wait, that CEO was a woman...
Well done Adri Isbister and the team at LIFE Unlimited for their awesome success. Amazing people doing amazing work. I would much prefer to hear what innovative ideas Adri would have for the budget!
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