Feminization and Gender Asymmetries in Journalism: A Longitudinal Study of the Trajectory of Brazilian Professionals in Crisis Contexts

This paper discusses gender asymmetries in journalism regarding morphology and sexual division of labor in professions that have recorded a sharp increase in the female workforce in contemporary capitalist processes. The empirical analysis covers a longitudinal study with 1,233 Brazilian journalists that replied to two online surveys carried out in 2012 and 2017. It presents two portraits of those journalists’ careers in the context of political and economic crises in the country, along with the transformations seen in the journalistic activity. Our objective is to highlight gender inequalities that have an effect on their work conditions and the way the crises impacted those professionals’ career choices and their abandonment of journalism. The theoretical background includes professional culture, the world of work and gender studies. Our results reinforce data already published about journalism in other countries in the last 20 years regarding unemployment of men and women; a greater exodus of women from the career when compared to their male peers; female migration to press consultancy and other occupations.