Gender of the news: Women journalists in Turkey

"... Being a female journalist is a disadvantage in Turkey, you are being kept as a spare tire. In addition to this analogy we work more than our male colleagues with lower wages. We generally do not enjoy our rights regarding motherhood. We also do not know what will happen to us? " (Müjgan Halis, journalists). As it has been the same in every walks of the social sphere including business world, the number of women employees have been raise. This is also valid for the media world, especially the news media, however the number of women decision makers, i.e. editor in chiefs, representatives, news directors still lack. The growing number of women journalists in journalistic field is being adverse to the number of high level decision makers in the field. How is it happening? What kinds of tactics do the women journalists using to survive within this gendered journalistic field? Moreover, could these tactics support women to transform the structure of gendered journalistic field? Within this thesis, I tried to find answers to these questions through the experiences of journalists. The paper was prepared upon the experiences of 6 male and 29 female journalists form different age groups and political backgrounds who have been working in the field of journalism for 4 to 40 years. In depth interviews were conducted to analyze their life as journalists, the general thoughts about journalism and the field itself, gendered newsroom culture, being a woman in the field. Upon the responses of the interviewees the thesis draws the gendered structure of the journalistic field, especially the newsroom culture in the context of Turkey.