Numbers do not matter

This thesis provides an insight into understanding why women journalists failed to reflect on, and react to, their subordinate status in the content they produce, even as they have already become the majority in the newspaper industry in Taiwan. To answer this question, thethesis has chosen to examine the women’s page section in Taiwan, both the printed page and the news organisation producing it. This is because, firstly, the women’s page section is dominated by women in terms of the producers of the page and readership, which is very different from the front page sections that are dominated by men; and secondly, in contrast to the front page sections, the women’s page section play a marginal and subordinate role in the overall context of newspapers.By using in-depth interview, participant-observation and content analysis, this thesis argues that it is not just a matter of how many women in journalism, but gender politics, news values and organisational culture that matter. Through examining gender politics operates on different levels (i.e. extra-organisational level, organisational level, daily routine level, and individual level), the thesis acknowledges that, firstly, Taiwanese society although underwent social change, from traditional patriarchal society to more gender liberal society, women are still regarded as main carers in the families, which created an incompatibilities for women as they enter labour market in general, newspaper journalism in particular.Secondly, the newspaper industry in Taiwan remains male-domination through manipulating exclusive, inclusive mechanisms, as women have been the majority recently.Thirdly, because the definition of news genre, hard/soft news, is traditionally in accordance with gender line, that is, hard news is important and for men, soft news is belittling and for women, the labour process in soft-news sections, e.g. the women’s page, thus is embodied gender meaning, which in turn make the sections remain women ghetto. The social relations in the women’s page section have also been found following gender orders. The power structure in the women’s page section has also been built up in accordance with gender orders.Finally, women journalists, particular ambitious ones, do not reflect their subordination on the news content but submit themselves to masculine values in their professional practices in order to survive in the profession.