Women and the Twittersphere are hitting the headlines – for all the wrong reasons. According to the Independent’s Twitter 100 list only 18 of the top Tweeters are women. Media campaigners are calling on broadcasters to sign a pledge to ensure that 30 per cent of guest pundits are female – and not just when they need case studies or ‘victim’ comments. Why are so few women considered authoritative or influential in social media beyond ‘niche’ topics? And why are so many women still being excluded from the media, despite making up around 50 per cent of its workforce?
Join Words of Colour Productions and an exciting panel of female social media experts to discuss the real stories behind the headlines at the Free Word Centre on Wednesday 30 May (booking details below).
Panellists
Sanam Dolatshahi is a social media reporter and presenter on BBC Persian Television’s interactive show Nowbat-e Shoma (Your Turn) and the first Iranian woman to start blogging in Iran in 2001.
Lis Howell is director of broadcasting and head of the MA courses in Broadcast and Television Journalism at City University London and is leading a new campaign with Broadcast magazine to encourage broadcast outlets to increase the number of female experts interviewed on TV and radio.
Hana Riaz is undertaking a Masters in Race, Ethnicity and Postcolonial Studies at the London School of Economics. She is a black Muslim feminist, writer, blogger and columnist for Ceasefire Magazine.
Minna Salami is a blogger, writer and social commentator on African feminism and pop culture whose work has appeared in The Guardian, Huffington Post and ARISE magazine. She is founder/editor of the award-nominated blog MsAfropolitan.com and is doing an MA in Gender Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
The panel debate will be facilitated by Julie Tomlin, Words of Colour’s creative programmes manager, and chaired by Words of Colour’s executive director Joy Francis.