WUNRN
CARIBBEAN ACTION PLAN for GENDER & MEDIA ADVOCACY
The World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) in
partnership with Women’s Media Watch (WMW) held a 3-day Regional
Training Workshop on Gender and Media Advocacy, 10 to 12 April, 2008, in
Kingston, Jamaica. The event brought together civil society as well as
some media from ten Caribbean countries. The regional delegates developed a CARIBBEAN ACTION PLAN for GENDER & MEDIA
ADVOCACY.
The workshop was a follow-up to the Global Media Monitoring Project
(GMMP) 2005, the most extensive global research into gender in the media ever
undertaken. It mapped the representation of women and men in the news
media in 76 countries, including several other Caribbean territories. (www.whomakesthenews.org).
The results of GMMP 2005 show that women are seriously
under-represented in the news, worldwide and in the Caribbean. Less than a
quarter of news subjects are women and their voices are heard
far less than men's in the topics that dominate the news agenda.
Worldwide, in stories on government, politics, economics and business less than
one in five include women as news subjects, despite women’s activity in these
areas. Imbalanced representation of women and men in the media perpetuates
stereotypes about gender. These stereotypes form the basis of practices of
exclusion and discrimination in everyday life situations.
In Caribbean media, sexism, gender biases and insensitive coverage
of violence are pervasive despite an awareness of the media as a
socializing agent, influencing attitudes and behaviour.
Advocacy for gender-responsive and gender-balanced media must be based on
a thorough understanding of how the media operates, on research data, and a
solid understanding of gender issues in the media.
The Regional Workshop developed an Action Plan to address Gender and
Media. The Action plan includes six (6) projects:
PROJECTS
AT A NATIONAL LEVEL
· Civil Society, Media and Gender Awareness Project
· Gender Awareness Workshop for Media
PROJECTS
AT A REGIONAL LEVEL
· Production of a Regional Directory of Female Experts and
Spokespersons
· Regional Training of Trainers for the Global Media Survey of
Participation of Women and Men in the News
·
Research into Codes of Practice, Style Books, Codes of
Ethics in the Media Industry
·
Gender Intervention in all communication courses
offered at Community Colleges
The project equipped participants with the skills and knowledge to carry
out effective gender and media advocacy,
and to dialogue with media on gender-balanced media policies.
Contact: Women’s Media Watch – 926 0882, email: wmwjam@hotmail.com
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