Email stories and comments to [email protected] on Monday 23 November 2015
Research found women only make up 24% of people heard about in the news
Experts say it will take "at least three quarters of a century" to reach parity between the genders
Women are most visible in the news in North America and least visible in the Middle East
Image source, Henry IddonThanks you to everyone who contributed to the discussion in London today.
You can continue following the debate using the #100Women and on our Facebook page. Do keep up with the latest stories here.
Kate O'Brian, president of Al Jazeera America said: "We in the news media have to be journalists ourselves. We need to examine what we are reporting inside.
"We can't let it sit over there and not be talked about as a scary subject."
Ben de Pear at Channel 4 News says: "I think we are on the cusp of something as most of the promising journalists whose CVs I see are women."
Verashni Pillay, editor-in chief of the weekly Mail & Guardian newspaper, in South Africa, said: "Maybe we should be asking them why women don't read the newspaper?
"The way we do news was developed by men - and for men. For many years, the sites that are attracting more women - what are they doing differently?"
Fran Unsworth, from BBC News, says "One of things we did at the BBC was set up a course for female experts to come along and practice with professionals to show it wasn't that scary.
"I think that is something, practically, the industry can do."
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Cartoonist Dave Lewis has been capturing the key moments from the debate.
Image source, Henry Iddon
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Emma Tucker at The Times says: "If we look at a short list for a job and there are no women - we ask 'why?' We like to plant the idea in people's heads they should apply for jobs.
"Women have to push themselves forward. Are women letting down the news by not pushing themselves hard enough?"
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"I represented Miriam O'Reilly in her age case against the BBC," says one audience member.
"I find it frustrating men can be old grey, bald, ugly and they have gravitas.
"Women, on the other hand, are asked 'What are you going to do about your wrinkles when we have HD?' and 'Do you want a hair colour?'"
She added she believed the number of women over 60 at the BBC had reduced in the last few years.
However, Fran Unsworth from BBC News said: "One in six of our female presenters are over 50 and the BBC has just made an international star out of an 80-year-old woman. I am talking about Mary Berry."
A representative from the Women's Equality Party says when she launched her policies, there was "not a single man to take up the invitation".
The subject of why men are more confident when appearing on air than women is getting the panel fired up.
Image source, Henry IddonKate O'Brian at Al Jazeera says: "The millennia of patriarchy is something we all have to worry about."
She says if quotas are instilled, she is worried people will just tick the box.
Panellist Ben De Pear said he disagreed with Verashni Pillay's viewpoint that quotas are important.
He said: "I don't agree with quotas - I believe in monitoring and that is what we need to get right."
"You need to be aware this month we had X amount of men on and women on.
"We do this on Channel 4 - we have someone who goes through every minute of the show. You need to know what to do on your news so you're surprised by it."
"What we're forgetting is that we're dealing with the effect of a millennia of patriarchy," says Verashni Pillay.
"The kind of women who are rising to the top of their game are of a very particular kind of woman. Women who are gutsy, who are ambitious, who are able to push through and muscle our way to the top.
"I think quota systems are important."
Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas, says: "There are many women who are top of their game and are being told they have got to get on TV or radio panels.
"There is a danger we will overdo it."
Elizabeth Plank, a senior correspondent from @micnews, external, said she had to be "wooed" and encouraged by others to write her first column.
Speaking via video link, she said: "I came into journalism through the back door and had to be convinced I was good enough to write the piece.
"We live in a world where men's confidence levels are often inflated and that is bad. We need to make sure talented women are taking part."
