ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how gender and power are articulated in and sometimes by the media industries. People distinguishes various mechanisms that construct and maintain the glass ceiling. The political economy, the liberal, and social-liberal perspective each have their own dynamics and postulate particular ideas on why there are fewer women than men in high positions in the media industry. Soap operas, soft rock and glossy magazines are all media genres that have been defined as feminine or soft genres. Conversely, the evening news, heavy metal and scientific magazines have been defined as masculine or hard genres. A famous essay on the status of women's crafts and their position in society was written in 1929 by Virginia Woolf. Woolf argues that female writers are excluded from the world of literature dominated by patriarchy. Jeremy Tunstall describes how the British Broadcasting Company emerged in the 1920s from the post office, staffed by men who had survived World War I.
