Gender equity in Lebanon's news industry: The chasm between management's perspectives and women journalists' experience.

This article examines senior management's perceptions of gender inequity in the Lebanese news industry, revealing a significant disconnect between leadership views and documented experiences of women journalists. Through a focus group with sixteen senior news managers from major Lebanese media organizations, the study found that most managers denied or minimized issues such as gender discrimination, the glass ceiling, pay inequity, domestic burdens, leaky pipelines, and sexual harassment, often attributing women's underrepresentation in leadership to women's own choices or societal factors. Few organizations had formal policies addressing gender equity, discrimination, or harassment, and gender-balanced news content was not systematically pursued. The findings highlight a critical barrier to workplace gender justice rooted in leadership's lack of awareness and acknowledgment, which impedes the advancement of equitable and hostile-free environments for women journalists in Lebanon.