WUNRN
Direct Link to CaucAsia Issues:
CaucAsia - International Coalition
of Gender Journalists
ENGLISH, RUSSIAN, &
GEORGIAN TRANSLATIONS
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GENDER & MEDIA
Ukraine - Oksana Kis
"Images of advertisement do not
only reflect the society, but also create standards and make the society
correspond to the imposed models....The majority of advertisements highlight
supremacy of heterosexuality and produce stereotypes on women's femininity and
men's masculinity.
Advertisements use many symbols to
bring messages to the target group. Excessive aestheticism of the female body
is one of the tools actively used by the advertising business in patriarchal
cultures.
Ukranian visual advertisement tends
to show "unreal" beautiful women, who constantly take care of their
bodies' beauty and keep working at its perfection. This is a common tendency of
advertisements in all post-Soviet countries. This makes women consciously, or
unconsciously, follow such modeling of appearance. Researchers state that this
tendency brings serious negative consequences to the psychological and physical
health of ordinary women....
Research also states that sexist
advertisements have an especially negative impact on teenagers. Young girls may
not focus as much on their intellectual growth and concentrate on their body
and the development of sexuality.
Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Essence,
have entered Ukranian information space. The dominating topics of these
magazines are: 'what to do in order to get and keep a man,' and 'how to become
more beautiful'. The main task of many women's magazines seems to be the
transformation of a woman into a doll, a subject of men's consumption.
Even comparatively gender-neutral
publications may view a woman as a decoration, as a man's property. Women are
taught that they have influence only in the shadow of a man, and that belonging
to a man is a natural way of women's life."
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Azerbaijan - Baha Adilkyzy
"Over 45% of Azerbajani
journalists are women. However, there are practically no women among editors,
though there are no doubts that there are many educated and talented women who
could skillfully manage a media source.
The majority of female journalists I
meet say that they are not allowed to address women's problems in their
articles....Journalists working in the region admit that their editors simply
forbid them to write on women's problems, saying that it is not necessary to
speak publicly about the problems a family deals with at home."
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CaucAsia Detailed Description of Two Major Media-Focused Events
in Bishek, Kyrgyzstan:
*The Role of the Media in
Safeguarding the Rights of Women & Children
Supported by the European
Commission & the BBC World Service Trust
*The First International Festival of
Women's Documentary
Organized by the Austrian
Association for Dialogue with Central Asia Through Art
with Koldoo Kyrgyz Social
Organization
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Article on Conference in Ukraine -
Oksana Prokipchuk
Implementation of Gender Policy:
Cooperation Between Authorities
& Non-Governmental Organizations
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