WUNRN
WOMEN FAILED
IN CONFLICT REPORTING
For Immediate
Release - 6 October 2015
Women are
virtually invisible in news reporting on peace and security issues in nations
experiencing conflict.
Seminal
research monitoring media in 15 transitional and conflict countries found that
overall women constitute only 13% of persons interviewed or spoken about.
This
astonishing statistic flies in the face of the fact that women make up at least
50% of the countries’ population and ignores the disproportionate impact of
conflict on women and girls.
The research
results will be presented October 7, 2015 at a conference on Gender, War and
Conflict reporting being held at the Oslo and Akershus University College of
Applied Sciences in Norway.
Sarah Macharia,
Program Manager for Gender and Communication for the World Association for
Christian Communication (WACC), who coordinated the study, noted that the
reporting “falls considerably short on the measures of respect for the right to
freedom of expression for all, particularly women, as well as the professional
and ethical obligation of news organizations and journalists towards their
publics.”
Factors
identified as contributing to the imbalance included inherent gender
inequalities in society, control of media output by those with money and power,
and lack of training and support to understand and overcome how journalists’
personal values and interests constrain their reporting.
The research
covered 876 stories relevant to peace and security published in 83 major
newspapers in 15 countries over a three-day period in April 2015. The
monitoring methodology identifies six types of roles in which people may appear
as news: as the subject of the story, spokesperson for a group, expert or
commentator, eyewitness, or person providing popular opinion.
Macharia noted
that only “39% of the already meager number of women are directly quoted,
compared to 60% of men.” In addition to the “insignificant presence of women”
in the news reporting overall, “the striking gender difference begs the
question whether women’s views, in their own words, are considered not worth
citing.”
The monitoring
was coordinated by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), a
global network that promotes communication rights for social justice and
sustainable development.
Funding was
provided by UN Women – New York, in the context of research for the Global
Study on Women Peace and Security to be presented for the 15th
anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 at the end of October
2015.
The media
research on women, peace and security follows the methodology of the Global
Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), which has tracked coverage of gender portrayal
and representation in the news every five years since 1995.
The report on
the fifth, and largest, GMMP, will be released on 23 November. The GMMP report
will include global, regional and national data and analysis from at least 114
countries.
Background
for editors
The full paper
is available on request (contacts below).
Countries
included in the women, peace and security research were: Bosnia &
Herzegovina, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Guinea, Liberia,
Mali, Nepal, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sierra Leone, South
Sudan, Togo, Uganda.
The World Association for Christian Communication
(WACC) promotes communication as a basic human right, essential to people’s
dignity and community. Rooted in Christian faith, WACC works with all denied
the right to communicate because of status, identity, or gender. WACC has
corporate and personal members in 120 countries, organized in eight Regional
Associations: Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, Middle East,
North America and Pacific. WACC is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with a
registered office in London, UK. www.waccglobal.org
Resolution 1325 was adopted by the United Nations Security Council in 2000 and was the first to link women’s experiences of conflict to the international peace and security agenda. It focused on the disproportionate impact of conflict on women, and called for their engagement in conflict resolution and peacebuilding. In 2015, the Security Council will convene a High-level Review to assess progress at the global, regional and national levels in implementing the resolution. http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-peace-security/1325-review-and-global-study
On November 23rd the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP)
2015 Report with results from 114 countries will be launched. UN Women is a
major partner for GMMP 2015 as well.
For more information, contact Sara Speicher, ss@waccglobal.org, +44 7985 276 515.