State broadcaster NPO plus commercial companies RTL and Vice have joined forces to fight the discrimination and stereotyping of women who work in the media.

In the next two years, a partnership headed by Dutch networking organisation Women Inc will promote diversity across the broadcasting sector, Dutch media reported.

‘Women deserve an equally prominent place in front and behind the scenes as men and that is where policy comes in. Diversity, representation, inclusivity, call it what you like; the more female editors, presenters and DJs, the better,’ the Parool quotes NPO chairwoman Shula Rijxman as saying.

According to the paper, RTL will offer training to staff and programme makers to avoid unconscious bias as part of a number of initiatives.

The partnership will not only look at gender, but will include discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, age and social economic status, the Parool writes.

At the moment the NPO is also looking into disparity in pay in the media. The investigation comes in the wake of a Parool article in which broadcasting bosses claimed that there was no pay gap between male and female presenters.

That probe is expected to take some weeks.