WUNRN
A publication of the World Association for Christian Communication
Editorial
Welcome to the 19th issue of Media & Gender Monitor (MGM)!
The Fourth Global
Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) takes place in November, this year! Media
monitors all over the world will once again collaborate in a massive effort
spanning seven continents to collect data on selected indicators of gender in
their local news media. It is hoped that the spirit and enthusiasm that
characterized the monitoring effort of GMMP 2005, born out of a common
commitment to gender equality in and through media, will emerge once again.
Media monitoring as
a tool for change was officially recognized by the United Nations in 1995, in
Section ‘J’ of the Beijing Platform for Action.(GMMP 2005 report) The idea of
the GMMP one-day study of the representation and portrayal of women in the
media worldwide had been conceived in 1994 at the ’Women Empowering
Communication’ conference in Bangkok organized by the World Association for
Christian Communication (WACC), Isis International-Manila and International
Women's Tribune Centre (IWTC). The GMMP has grown to be the largest,
longest-running study on gender and media, and remains an important source of
data on the status of gender in media across the world. To participate in GMMP
2009/2010 which is open to any individual, group and organisation, email your
contact information to whomakesthenews-subscribe@gn.apc.org or alternatively
register online at http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/whomakesthenews.
The current issue
of MGM attempts to capture key discussions on gender and media at WACC’s
Congress held in October, 2008, in Cape Town. The Congress experience
re-affirmed the importance of continued engagement with a thematic area that,
despite its significance for gender equity and women’s struggles, has been
overshadowed by other, equally crucial thematic areas of concern.
The network of
gender and communication groups has however not wavered in underscoring the
importance of media as a source of cultural production, as a site through which
material gender inequalities and injustices are reinforced and reproduced. The
unshaken commitment is visible through the case studies featured in the current
issue of MGM.
We hope the
articles contained here will be inspirational, energizing and even spur
increased commitment to working with and through media for gender equality.
6. Taller Regional:
Genero y medios de comunicación. Plan de acción. Quito el dia 18 de julio 2008.
8. ‘Gender and media’ at WACC’s Congress 2008
The learning
streamon ‘Media as a Tool for Communications on Gender Justice and Women’s
Human Rights’ at the WACC Congress explored: key issues that are central to
feminist, and gender and media discourse and advocacy; how issues of gender
equality and women’s human rights are central to media accountability and
professionalism in and through the media; and, how communication can advance
gender justice and women’s human rights struggles. On the next five pages you
will find case study presentations by participants.
8.1 Case Study 1.
Feminist Media Research.
‘People’s Communication for Development Campaign: Feminist Media
Research in the Pacific.’ Report on a case study presented by Sharon
Bhagwan-Rolls, FemLINKPACIFIC: Media initiatives for women, Fiji.
Does access to new
Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs )lead to the empowerment of
women? This was the central question in research undertaken over three years in
the Philippines, India, Thailand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea under the
co-ordination of ISIS-International.
8.3 Case Study 2.
Feminist Media Research.
‘Gender and Advertising in Southern Africa, 2007’. Report on
a presentation by Sikhonzile Ndlovu, Gender Links, South Africa
The case study
focused on innovative research by Gender Links on ’gender and advertising’ in
Southern Africa.The purpose of the research was to establish how advertisements
in Southern Africa represent women and men by analyzing the extent to which
women and men appear in adverts, the roles that women and men play in
advertising,the extent to which adverts promote or challenge gender
stereotyping and how audiences perceive or are affected by such adverts.
8.4 Case Study 3.
Advocacy in Action
‘Elements of Children’s Code for Programming Jamaica: The
Women’s Media Watch Journey’. Report on a presentation by Dawnette
Hinds-Furzer, Women’s Media Watch, Jamaica
Women’s Media Watch
(WMW) began to advocate for a code in 1996. We started by writing letters to
the editor contesting the broadcasting of content inappropriate for children at
times when children primarily watched television.
8.5 Case Study 4.
Practical response to the findings of the GMMP
‘Online directory of women experts’ - Middle East and North
Africa region
Report on a
presentation by Hoda Badran, Community Media Network, Jordan
The directory is
the outcome of recommendations at a training workshop on gender and media
advocacy for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
9. Advocacy Tools: Policy Frameworks for Advocacy
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