(In)visible women: representation of women in an Australian business publication

The media both reflect and create reality. What journalists and their editors present--what they choose to present and what they choose to omit--about the world contributes to our individual and collective perceptions of the world, including our views about the appropriate roles of men and women in the workforce. Their choices can have the effect of maintaining and reinforcing the status quo, of reasserting old or dated realities, or of alerting us to new possibilities or to new or emerging realities. This paper discusses how women have been and are represented in the leading Australian business magazine, BRW (Business Review Weekly) and discusses the implications of this representation on women's opportunities for recognition of professional expertise and for accessing senior positions in organisations, including positions at the highest levels of management and on Boards of Directors.