Overshadowed or overlooked?

Support for women photographers in an industry with telling gender disparities

Do we really still need to talk about this?

Yes, I’m afraid we do.

Although there seems to be more focus on the gender disparity issue lately—some are even cynically saying it’s a fashionable trend to talk about gender and diversity—the fact remains that women are less represented and less awarded in the profession of visual journalism.

Let me start with some personal experiences. As a young female in the 90's, I started in the industry as photo editor-in-chief of a Dutch national newspaper. It never occurred to me that my gender could be an issue in my work, but looking back I now realize that it was. The things I recall were not coincidences; if you ask other female editors or photographers, you will hear about similar experiences. It was difficult in the 90s to find a female photojournalist to work for a daily newspaper, a problem that fortunately has improved over the years. I can recall an argument with a male employee who didn’t want to work under the supervision of a woman. I can also remember a female intern I found crying one day in the darkroom because of the sexist approach of her male colleagues. I regret the unconscious way I adapted to, or ignored, the frequent sexist remarks I so often heard.

I still work in the industry, now as a director of photography of a leading opinion magazine. Have things changed? Yes, thankfully. There are more professional women photographers in the industry, and I see more female photo editors in leading positions in major international outlets. Does this help? Yes, absolutely it does, because they are in the position to assign and support women photographers. But is it enough? It certainly isn’t. Let’s be clear, it is nice to have more female photo editors on key positions, but it is still the case that most top decision makers in visual journalism are men.

And that’s also something I personally experienced: the higher I climb on the career ladder in this industry, the more I am surrounded by men.

Especially in a profession like (photo)journalism, where we are the gatekeepers of information, this unbalanced gender representation feels uncomfortable. And, let’s be honest, it is not only in gender that we have inequality, but also in racial diversity and geographical representation.

Maybe the problem is societal, but the effects have, in my opinion, greater and more damaging consequences in professions like (photo)journalism.

Unfortunately, we still don’t have enough facts and figures about the situation, like how many women photographers are educated, how many stay in the job after graduation, how many work professionally and on what kinds of assignments. And that’s too bad. This subject needs to be better researched. But the figures we do have are astonishing. Data from the World Press Photo Contest showed three years in a row (2015, 2016, and 2017) that only 15 percent of the participants entering the contest were female. And again in 2017, only five out of the 45 photo contest winners were women.

So, what’s going on? Is it because women tend not to enter contests out of lack of confidence? Are women too modest and not self-promoting enough? Is it the physical hardship that is sometimes required for this profession? Or is it the result of the cliché image of the photojournalist being a macho male that is so often confirmed by a lot of documentaries and films, but also by the industry itself?

We don’t know exactly how many women work for leading wire agencies like Reuters and AP—they are not so transparent on that—but we know there are few. It would be great to have more information on this subject in order to make the discussion more factual, and to know how we can improve the situation for the growing group of talented, professional female photojournalists out there. Are they being overshadowed or just merely overlooked?

Daniella Zalcman is part of that growing group who thought it was time to stop talking and take some action. She launched Women Photograph, a website with the aim of promoting and representing the work of female photographers. As a freelance documentary photographer who has experienced some frustrating confrontations herself, she is the perfect advocate. When Daniella asked photo editors why they didn’t hire more female photographers, the astonishing answer they gave was that they couldn’t find any. So, to fix that problem, Daniella made an electronic database of freelance female photographers with at least five years of experience around the world.

Daniella also researched (with the help of others) how many lead photos in western media outlets were credited to female photographers. The conclusion was that the majority (around 80 percent) were still made by male photographers.

According to Daniella, two things might help to alter this: education/supportive community and financial support. Women Photograph tries to provide this with a mentorship program in which, for a period of a year, women who are starting in the industry are connected with experienced colleagues. A supportive community might help to keep photographers in the job, instead of disappearing out of frustration or lack of means.

The latter is also the reason why Daniella is trying to establish a travel fund to support women who don’t have the funds to travel. Getting access to education, attending festivals and meeting international colleagues is crucial in building up a professional career.

Women Photograph also established a new grant for women in visual journalism. This project grant is intended for female, female-identifying and non-binary photographers with 5+ years of experience. There is a $5,000 grant that will be awarded from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. The grant will support a new or in-progress documentary project from an established visual journalist. For emerging visual journalists, there are three $2,500 grants that are awarded with the support of ONA and also support new or in progress documentary projects.

Another fairly new initiative created to support and recognize women is the the annual Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award. It was established to honor Anja Niedringhaus, the German AP photographer who was tragically killed while on assignment in Afghanistan in 2014. It was launched by the IWMF (International Women’s Media Foundation), with support of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, who gave a gift of $1 million. The award celebrates women photographers whose work demonstrates bravery, dedication and skill. The 2017 winner, Stephanie Sinclair, was announced last month at the World Press Photo Festival in Amsterdam. Nicole Tung and Lousia Gouliamaki were this year’s honorable mentions.

The IWMF’s mission is to unleash the potential of women journalists as champions of press freedom to transform the global news media. They do research and have several funds, grants and fellowships that enable women in (visual) journalism to educate and develop themselves and to stimulate the contribution of women at all levels of the news media. In this way, women are able to contribute to the diversity of voices, perspectives and stories.

Here are some grants and awards in addition to the ones mentioned above that focus on supporting women photographers:

Inge Morath Award: Annual award given to a woman photographer under 30 years of age to enable her to work on long-term documentary project. Established by Magnum photographers to honor their colleague and Magnum member Inge Morath. Now administered by the Inge Morath Foundation and Magnum Foundation, the €5,000.00 award has existed for 16 years. One awardee and up to two finalists are selected by a jury composed of Magnum photographers, the Executive Director of the Magnum Foundation, and Inge Morath Foundation.

Canon Female Photojournalist Award: A €8,000 prize for the competition of a planned project on a social, economical, political or cultural subject by a female photojournalist. The winner is announced at Visa pour L’image in Perpignan, France.

Firecracker Photographic Grant: This annual award provides funding for a female photographer born or residing in Europe to aid with the completion of a documentary photographic project.

Women in Photography/WIPNYC: Women in photography aims more at female artists than at journalism or documentary. Launched in June 2008, Women in Photography is a website founded by artists Amy Elkins and Cara Phillips that showcases the work of women artists. The Women in Photography (WIPNYC) Grant & Mentor Program will provide one female photographer with a $5,000 grant to produce work and a year of mentorship with four art professionals.

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