WUNRN
WECAMS for Geneva NGO Forum -
04.11.2014
Women’s European
Coalition Against Media Sexism
GENEVA NGO FORUM –
BEIJING + 20
UN ECE Regional
Review
4 November 2014
Interactive Roundtable on “Women and
the Media”
It
is long established that the frequent and unrelenting portrayal of women as
sexual objects plays a key role in maintaining gender inequality.
The
CEDAW Committee (UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women) has repeatedly called on governments to take
action against the stereotyping of women, arguing that such representations
contribute to women’s disadvantaged position in a number of areas including in
the labour market and in access to decision-making positions, and affect
women’s choices in their studies and professions.
The
European Parliament has also voted in favour of several gender equality resolutions, including
the adoption of a report which calls on both
advertisers to stop using sexist stereotypes and member states to monitor how gender is portrayed
in advertising. Sexual
objectification has a negative impact on both the aspirations and self-esteem of women and girls
and promotes attitudes and behaviours associated with discrimination and
violence against women.
But
till now nothing happens. Governments are not working seriously to change
culture (with only France as an exception), advertisers continue to use sexist
stereotypes and member states are not monitoring anything.
That’s
why one year and a half ago, three
feminist groups - DonneinQuota for Italy, Chiennes de garde for France and
Object for U.K. – founded WECAMS (Women’s Coalition against Media Sexism) with
the specific aim to bring an end to sexism in the media in all Europe.
All
three groups campaigned against sexist, objectifying
and dehumanising representations of women in their own countries for many years.
As
a result, we increased public awareness on this problem but we couldn’t
draw any politicians’ attention.
We
need politicians because we cannot wait any longer for a specific law
regarding the portrayal of
women in advertising as in Italy,
in the UK and in France we still don’t have it.
In
this void of rules, more than 60 years ago, private SROs (Self-Regulatory
Organizations) were founded in all Europe and gathered in a federation called
EASA (European Advertising Standards Alliance).
Each
local SRO – Self-Regulatory Organization - has its own code and
organization and is considered like a public authority on sexism as they
are the only one who seems to care about it.
We
do not agree on this opinion for two simple reasons:
SROs
do not respect European Resolutions even if DonneinQuota, Chiennes de garde and
Object tried to push local SROs (IAP for Italy, ARPP for France and ASA
for U.K.) to do it - without gender experts in their juries, they are not in
the position to judge sexism.
Last
but not the least, in our opinion, only National Women’s Rights Ministers - in
accordance with feminist groups - have the right to issue precise guidelines
regarding women’s representation in the media.
When
WECAMS started to work, we had clear in our minds we need:
1. to oblige SROs to respect European Resolutions with
MEPs’ support
2. to convince MEPs about the necessity to have a Directive
on this matter, while we continue to ask to our National Governments to issue a
specific law
With
strong support from MEPs Silvia Costa (Italy), Sylvie Guillaume (France) and
Mary Honeyball (U.K.), we met twice (November 2013 and February 2014 ) in
Brussels with EASA (European Advertising Standards Alliance), the network of
advertising self-regulation bodies.
We
presented them our positions: we explained why sexual objectification and
sexual stereotyping of women and girls constitutes discrimination, and
emphasized that objective criteria exist to assess whether the content of an
advert is discriminatory. We pointed out the inconsistencies in ads being
judged as sexist and banned in one European country but not in others. We
called for tighter guidelines to regulate advertising, in line with European
Parliament resolutions on ending discrimination and in consultation with
women’s rights organizations across Europe. We argued that standard-setting
would be positive for the advertising agencies themselves; people who work in
the industry have told us of the pressure from corporate clients to develop sexually
objectifying advertising campaigns, and they would no longer be forced to
participate in this.
Yet
despite countless studies that demonstrate the discriminatory nature and
harmful effects of such advertising, many advertising regulatory bodies still
consider sexism an issue of ‘taste and decency’, rather than one of
discrimination. Complaints against sexist portrayals of women and girls in
adverts are upheld only if they are likely to cause ‘serious or widespread
offence’, and a great deal of sexist advertising is judged inoffensive. For
example, if demeaning portrayals of women are placed in men’s magazines, they
are likely to be deemed ‘humorous’ and unlikely to cause offence to the target
audience. And the content is only judged according to ‘prevailing social
standards’ – so if discrimination against women is commonplace, sexist
advertising won’t stand out as tasteless or indecent.
As
a result of our meetings, EASA has promised to consider how it could use its
standard-setting role to help ending sexism in advertising but till today we
haven’t heard any news from them yet.
Our
action had to stop in spring because of European Parliament election but
we are already organizing a third meeting with EASA, even if only one of
our MEPs is still in the FEMM Committee: Mary Honeyball (U.K.).
As
you can see, we are pursuing the first point of our action, that is to oblige
SROs to respect European Resolutions. What about the second point, that is to
convince MEPs that a Directive is absolutely necessary?
We
are almost ready.
Our
new campaign will be launched in Europe before the end of November.
We
prefer not to disclose it today but if you follow us, both in our countries and
also in Europe, you soon will know about it. Please do it as we need also your
help to spread it.
Presented
by Donatella Martini
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