Sex Discrimination in Korean Newspapers
factors associated with sex discrimination. This study engaged all women journalists
working in the 10 national newspapers and three business newspapers.
The present study will add to the literature on Korean women journalists and sex
discrimination in the newsroom. Perhaps the results can be used to improve the
newsroom environment for women, having a net effect of increasing the number of
women readers. Attracting more readers should financially benefit Korea’s situation of
declining newspaper readership. And, perhaps, improving the newsroom environment
so that women and women’s issues are more fairly covered would ameliorate the status
of women in Korean society.
Research Questions
For the purpose of this study, sex discrimination was defined as “any instance in
which female employees appear to have been denied opportunities or rewards because
of their gender and not for any reasons related to their abilities or experience” (Walsh-
Childers et al., 1996a).
In an effort to find out the extent and types of sex discrimination Korean women
newspaperwomen believe they experience, and to examine factors associated with sex
discrimination, the following general questions were asked:
RQ 1: How much of a problem is sex discrimination for women journalists at
Korean newspapers?
RQ 2: What kinds of sex discrimination do Korean women journalists
experience frequently ?
RQ 3: What factors are associated with sex discrimination among Korean omen
journalists?
Convention