R is n McKeniry, head of technology, Gravity Media, explains why the media industry needs to change its mindset in the way it works, and utilise technology to improve work-life balance if it hopes to encourage a truly diverse workforce
By Contributor
Published: March 7, 2024
R is n McKeniry, head of technology, Gravity Media, explains why the media industry needs to change its mindset in the way it works, and utilise technology to improve work-life balance if it hopes to encourage a truly diverse workforce
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> R is n McKeniry, head of technology, Gravity Media, explains why the media industry needs to change its mindset in the way it works, and utilise technology to improve work-life balance if it hopes to encourage a truly diverse workforce
https://www.tvbeurope.com/business/opinion-more-action-please title=Share via Email class=share-email>
It's International Women's Day, and I wish to share my journey as a female leader in a technical role within the broadcast industry.
Whilst progress has been made, there's always room for improvement. Instead of focusing on frustrations, let's channel our energy into taking concrete actions as individuals, as organisations and as an industry, to work towards that elusive equality.
Together, we can make a meaningful impact!
Individual actions It's a glaringly obvious one but apparently still needs saying: don't judge, make assumptions or leap to unfounded perceptions based on a person's gender. The tired old positive/negative male/female parallels such as confidence/arrogance, empowerment/controlling, passionate/emotional and so on still abound, to the very real detriment of women's progress and promotion.
Appreciate people's differences. A diverse team can only add to your problem-solving abilities because different people approach and solve problems in different ways.
Remember that staff are also individual humans who have other things going on in their lives. The so-called soft skills' are so important; making the effort to know the names of your team's children, to know that someone is struggling with an elderly parent, to remember that someone is competing in a marathon next weekend, and asking about those things (in an organic way!), makes people feel appreciated and cared about.
Celebrate the women that you work with, not just in terms of the big things and certainly not just for International Women's Day. Tell them regularly what a brilliant job they are doing, and point out their great work to peers and senior staff.
Organisational actions We all need to be aware of the environments that we work in, and of the potential impact we have on young people. A young woman at Gravity Media is my mentor, because I've been in this industry for 26 years and I know that I accept things and possibly join in with things that are not and were never really acceptable, because that is my learned behaviour. I don't want us to have a sanitised work environment; but shouldn't we be cheering that young people, and young women in particular, are prepared to call out unacceptable behaviour or unacceptable demands? The old guard might complain that, Young people are so sensitive, they won't put up with some of the stuff that we've had to, or do what we had to do. Ultimately people shouldn't come to work and feel uncomfortable.
Encourage women in your organisation to work together towards change. We created a group for Gravity women which was set up by Laura Wignall, our business development manager, and in the future we hope to extend the initiative to the wider Group, and the main thing I took from our very first gathering was that these women identified non-female-specific areas for improvement. They could see the impact of certain things on all staff, and came up with solutions. Again, it is about having diversity within an industry to see things that other people perhaps don't see.
If you are a woman in a leadership role, like it or not, younger or subordinate women are looking at you and your behaviour. I am pleased to have had female ex-colleagues tell me that they moved on feeling confident in themselves, in part because they had sight of a woman who they recognised as a strong person who didn't apologise for herself. Please think of the next generation of female leaders and model the behaviours that perhaps you would have liked to see as you moved up.
Industry changes We have a massive skills shortage in this industry, and statistics tell us that in around four and a half years we are going to be in serious trouble because the older generation is retiring. We need to find new and creative ways to bring a young and diverse workforce into the industry, and fast.
We need to change the mindset of the way we work, utilise technology to improve our work-life balance, and think of ways to recruit more women/diverse staff. We lose so many talented women through being inflexible with working hours or accepting that working until all hours to get a production finished is normal; let's plan properly in the first place to build in enough time. Remote production is another key driver to enable those who are unable to commit to days or weeks away from home.
Let's offer more flexibility in the working week, such as job-sharing. This benefits working mothers in particular. It's not hard with a bit of thought and organisation, and invariably they give so much more than is asked of them because they appreciate the opportunity.
Organisations like Rise are doing amazing things, such as going into schools and telling young girls about career opportunities that they didn't even know existed. That's a long-term strategy and it's one that every single company should be buying into. Howe
Most recent headlines
17/12/2025
Investigative journalists across the Western Balkans and T rkiye continue to con...
17/12/2025
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Inducts 10 Industry Icons During Unforgettable ...
17/12/2025
ESPN to Debut MNF Playbook with Next Gen Stats, a New AI-Driven NFL Data-AltCastThe series, powered by Adrenaline TruPlay AI, launches Dec. 22 and runs through ...
17/12/2025
Inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games Debut Under the Lights' in Primetime on ...
17/12/2025
The right playlist is essential on New Year's Eve, building the energy as you get ready and keeping it high as you count down to midnight. This year, Spotif...
17/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
17/12/2025
Audiences Watched Over 103 Billion Minutes of TV on Thanksgiving Day
NFL Games ...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
KPop Demon Hunters Stars Visit Berklee for Weeklong Celebration Andrew Choi and EJAE, who voiced the film's main characters and contributed to its soundtr...
17/12/2025
Wednesday 17 December 2025
Heated Rivalry will be coming to Sky and streaming service NOW on 10 JanuaryTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy opti...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Inside The Unseen World Of Indian Customs: Netflix Reveals The...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix announces PAPARAZZI KING: the docu series coming to Ne...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First Look at Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole Pr...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Welcomes Warner Bros. Discovery Board Recommendation
Business
17 December 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
After Careful Revi...
17/12/2025
RT has announced that Kathy Fox has been appointed Commissioning Editor with re...
17/12/2025
The Hao AI Lab research team at the University of California San Diego - at the forefront of pioneering AI model innovation - recently received an NVIDIA DGX B...
17/12/2025
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
17/12/2025
With the new season of Dancing with the Stars shimmering in the not-too-distant future this New Year, the celebrity and dancer pairings of the twelve couples ha...
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Emma Appleton, Fares Fares, Frida Gustavsson and Jakob Oftebro...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Docu-reality My Korean Boyfriend Gets a Trailer and Premiere D...
16/12/2025
Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Improves Streaming Video Quality and Boosts Viewer Engagement SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 16, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
16/12/2025
RT Sport Awards 2025 live on RT One and RT Player at 8:05pm on Saturday 20 December.
On Saturday 20 December live on RT One and RT Player at the earlier t...
16/12/2025
Singer -songwriter Brian Kennedy has been announced as the final celebrity dance...
15/12/2025
Harlem Globetrotters Celebrate 100th Anniversary With New Brand Campaign From Th...
15/12/2025
Top L-R: La Tierra Del Valor (The Home of the Brave), Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawe...
15/12/2025
L3Harris will leverage 15 years of experience supporting the E-4B Nightwatch and...
R is n McKeniry, head of technology, Gravity Media, explains why the media industry needs to change its mindset in the way it works, and utilise technology to improve work-life balance if it hopes to encourage a truly diverse workforce 
