I apologise now if this article is more about ageism than anything else. The topic didn't start out this way.. It started last Friday, June 17th, when Geraldine and I had the fortune to be part of a panel discussion on TVNZ - Good Morning, talking about this very subject. We thoroughly enjoyed the panel discussion which somehow made the point glaringly obvious that NZ didn't follow overseas initiatives to have mature women personalities as anchors on high profile programmes. eg. Diane Sawyer. Our off camera discussions, when we had had time to reflect were even more interesting.
Click here to view last Friday's interview on TVNZ 's 'Good Morning' show - Older Women in the Public Eye with presenter Sarah Bradley and guest Alison Quigan
It seems strange that a country that was the first to give women the vote (in the world), and supports mature women in positions of authority in the legal system and in politics doesn't want them on their screen nightly. Given that their male counterparts regularly host current affairs and human interest programmes at a mature age it seems we like our female presenters to be on the minus side of 40. The same can be said for our soap actresses. Maybe the under 40's are the main viewers who prefer to see their age group talking to them? But this can't be the case with news junkies. It seems that the majority of regular news programme viewers are male and that may provide a clue as well.
Where are our Joanna Lumley's doing wonderful documentaries and our Diane Sawyers? Would you be more inclined to listen or watch if 'Fair Go' were presented by a Judy Bailey type personality or if 'Shortland Street' hospital departments were headed by women actresses?
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