Making it in a man’s world

Sushi Das

LOOKING BACK, the seminal moment that helped shape my career in journalism was when a few years ago, I worked as transport editor for The Age and Citylink was going into a marketing phase. At that time, I broke a number of stories and my editor, my boss and everyone was taking me seriously for the first time - that gave me a lot of confidence. I felt noticed.

It is extremely hard, even today, for women in journalism to be noticed or get top jobs, and have the same opportunities as men. It is shocking that newspapers write about equality, but they are not equal at all. It’s a man’s world, and being a woman in it, you have to work twice as hard!

I have been professionally influenced by several writers, some colleagues and there are a lot of people whose work I admire. My husband, who is also a journalist, has given me the maximum encouragement, motivation and support than any other person.

Australia has a long way to go in developing an ethnic presence in mainstream media, especially in commercial TV networks. I don’t see many Asian/ethnic faces on commercial TV, as they tend to stick with the formula of having a blonde woman to front their programmes. The Australian mainstream media doesn’t have enough ethnic presence, which is a pity because people from ethnic backgrounds have a lot to offer. Also, not many Asians are putting their hands up to work in the media. I sometimes sit on the panel for selection of cadetships in The Age and I don’t see many people from Asian backgrounds applying for media jobs, but it would be good if they did. However, new Indian migrants coming to Australia are different to those who came earlier. These young ones are not shy to hold back and we will soon see a change. Nowadays, you have young people coming from India who are not satisfied easily, resulting in some angst and where you have angst, you have creativity. These people will bring about a change soon.

The Indian community in Melbourne is growing and there is potential for a lot more growth. I think Indians generally are very creative and resourceful people. A lot of Indians are in significant roles in companies, doing very well for themselves. They just don’t have a public profile. This will change. Indians will want and achieve a lot more visibility.

I regularly look at the Indian newspapers in Melbourne. In fact, some of them have stolen my copy and not even attributed me with my own work! If they had rung me and asked, I wouldn’t have said no, but they didn’t even ask me. I haven’t written for any of them. I am looking forward to a bigger and