Review 2013: Talk on the Radio

There is a weekly radio show on the German station Deutschlandradio Kultur, every saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. called  Radiofeuilleton – Im Gespräch (Conversations). This is a show with one or two expert guests in the studio and listeners calling in on changing topics. Once before on Sept. 8 I blogged on this show  (Listening to the Radio), yesterday they broadcast the last show of 2013, so let’s look back on the whole year with 52 shows today.
The variety of topics with regularly switching male and female presenters is big, however the guest list is a bit more onesided: more than half the shows only had male guests (27 of 52), an all-female panel occured five times (approx. 10 %). 20 shows, this is less than 40 %, had male and female experts.

Of course there is no need for a gender parity on each show, but overall, looking on a year’s programmes, such an imbalance does seem quite remarkable (but not unique of course, considering the guest lists of talk shows on German TV, and possibly also in other countries), and not a positive signal. What might be the reasons? Are there really so many topics that only male experts can talk about? Is it just customary to mainly invite men, or is it thoughtlessness? Were female experts that had been invited simply reluctant to go on air? This summer I wrote to the people behind the show, I was promised an answer, but up to now I have not received it. Unfortunately.
Well, instead of speculating on possible reasons let’s just have a look at the topics of the shows with men-only– and women-only-panels. I have marked the shows with only one guest instead of two in red, not knowing whether only one person was invited or the second person had declined.

Topics of shows without men:

• What changes should be due in family policy?
• Allergies in Spring
• Town vs. Country Life
• A slap to the soul: how to deal with insults
• Abolishing prostitution – in favour or against?

Topics of shows without women:

• Broadcast Receiving Licence and Digitalization – what is the Future of Public Broadcasting?
• Living in a sustainable Manner – a Self-Deception?
• Believing in Globules – how effective is Homeopathy?
• What will the Cinema’s Future be like?
• Water – drink it or speculate with it
• The Euro €€
• Birds and Bird Watching
• Planned Obsolence in Production
• From Kant to Cosmos – The Universe
• Running, how to do it
• Big Data – Chances and Risks
• Data Security in Times of Prism and Tempora
• Problems with Maths
• Work until you drop
• Human Guinea Pigs? Pharmaceutical tests
• Musical Encouragement in Germany
• National Election 2013
• How ill is our medical scheme?
• The Internet – a safe Place for All?
• Asylum Politics and Refugees
• Rent Explosions, Gentrification, Vacancy: Living in Germany
• Remembrance and Remembering – but how?
• Inheriting and Bequeathing without Trouble
• The Christmas Season – how much Consumption can we afford?
  
• The Power of Music
• Changing Horses in a Professional Career, how do you do it?
• All you ever wanted to know about old Sayings and Proverbs

 Let’s hope looking back on 2014 will be quite different.