Male voices silent on ABC’s special women’s day

ABC male TV and radio hosts booted off air for International Women’s Day but told to come to work to provide support.

Chris Bath will replace Richard Glover on ABC Radio Sydney’s drive program.

The ABC is booting male television and radio hosts off air again today for International Women’s Day despite last year’s criticism the move was tokenistic.

High-profile presenters of ABC’s radio services — including the host of Mornings on ABC Radio Melbourne, Jon Faine, ABC Radio Sydney Drive broadcaster Richard Glover, and ABC Radio Sydney Breakfast anchor Robbie Buck — will be replaced by female guest presenters, with the content centred on specialist programming.

On the ABC’s television channels, News Breakfast host Michael Rowland, Matter Of Fact presenter Stan Grant and ABC Late News anchor Jeremy Fernandez will all be off air.

The initiative extends to having female hosts on youth radio network Triple J as well as Radio National, Classic FM and digital radio network Double J, with female-only musical artists.

An ABC statement said: “ ‘Girls to The Front’ all day across the networks, with all female hosts and music from ladies.”

A spokesman for the ABC said the male hosts were required to turn up for work to support “their colleagues in the creation, production and delivery of content”.

Specialist content includes a Fierce Girls podcast series that vows to push back against gender stereotypes of “princesses, unicorns and YouTube stars”, with “real-life inspirational stories of brave, adventurous, and strong girls and women”.

Elsewhere a series of videos will celebrate women working behind the scenes in film and TV, including cinematographer Bonnie Elliott, composer Caitlin Yeo, editor Dany Cooper and documentary director Jen Peedom.

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ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie said International Women’s Day was an important opportunity “to celebrate the contribution women make in the workplace”.

She noted that although five of eight ABC board directors were female, there was “work still to be done” to increase the number of women in the film and TV industry.

As part of an effort to encourage women to enter these industries, the ABC has announced a new cadetship scheme in conjunction with trade group Screen Australia.

Lasting 12 months, Your Time cadetships are aimed at women who want to develop “screen skills, especially in the fields of camera, sound, directing and other craft skills roles where women are historically under-represented”. The cadetships are also open to male candidates.

Ms Guthrie said: “We lead the industry in our representation of women in presenter roles on many of our programs and we work hard to ensure our audiences hear these voices every day.

“But there is still more work to be done so that our content reflects the Australian population, so women are equally represented in the stories we tell, the experts we interview and the comedians who make us laugh.

“We also play an important role in ensuring Australian children grow up watching programs where girls are equally represented in all types of roles.”