2015 Lecture by Professor Lis Howell
In November 2015 Professor Lis Howell gave an inaugural lecture on the subject of Expert Women; and announced new figures which showed a major increase in the use of women experts – up 25%.
The latest figures…
| Mar 2012 – Oct 2013 | Oct 2013 – Mar 2014 | Apr 2014 – Sep 2015 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sky News | 5.0 to 1 | 4.7 to 1 | 3.1 to 1 |
| ITV News at Ten | 5.0 to 1 | 4.0 to 1 | 3.9 to 1 |
| BBC1 News at Ten | 3.7 to 1 | 4.0 to 1 | 3.9 to 1 |
| BBC Radio 4 Today | 3.9 to 1 | 3.6 to 1 | 2.9 to 1 |
| Channel 4 News | – | 4.0 to 1 | 2.6 to 1 |
| Channel 5 News | – | – | 1.6 to 1 |
| Overall | 4.4 to 1 | 4.1 to 1 | 3.2 to 1* |
The lecture was introduced by Sophie Raworth. Other content referred to the audience figures. The news programmes which had increased their numbers of female expert interviewees experienced no decline in audience, perhaps the reverse! The lecture also looked at the negative portrayal of successful women in the press*, and the still current need for women to be seen, and present themselves, as “princesses”
*How the bubble burst for award winning women (Marcus Leroux, The Times, Oct 2015)
*Crown slips as Katherine the Great humbled (Patrick Hosking, The Times, Oct 2015)