Rina Bar-Tal
צילום: גבי מנשה
Media portrays Russian women as sex workers
Conference by Israel Women's Network claims media wrongly represents Russian women in Israel as prostitutes. Organization also claims women underrepresented in media positions, political debates
Women emigrants from the former Soviet Union are mostly portrayed as prostitutes by the Israeli media, a new study revealed Sunday.
Statistics presented at a conference on the media's affect on the image and status of women in Israel, held by the Israel Women's Network, showed that the image of Russian-speaking female immigrants in the media has not changed over the last 10 years.
"Most of the appearances of Russian women immigrants in the media are related to the sex industry. It’s very sad that the media chooses to do this,” said Rina Bar-Tal, chairwoman and president of the Israel Women’s Network.
“Russian women have entered local politics, and no one mentions it, because it is more comfortable, and sexier, to deal with the issue of prostitution,” she said.
“I think there is a huge gap between reality and the picture the media is trying to paint,” Bar-Tal said.
Another claim brought up at the conference referred to the roles women played in various media outlets. According to the participants, men were still the ones holding key positions in the media.
The data showed that women comprised 30 percent of the workforce in television, and 25 percent in radio. These numbers have not changed in 10 years.
The conference also said that the absence of women from television and radio studios was particularly noticeable during the second Lebanon war. Women mostly participated in discussions on issues such as psychology, as opposed to debates on security and diplomatic issues.
The claim extended to female participation in media discussions in general, saying that women were usually interviewed on issues related to the home and child rearing, and not politics.
