No man said women have the right to live without fear of death as punishment

Media women can prioritise revealing the impact on women when telling stories, along with the impact on the other half of the population, but we cannot make assumptions.

Media practitioners also need to know how their audience might receive the intended message. 

The murders of women in so-called honor (honour) killings – even if the woman is a victim of domestic violence, rape or incest – are supposedly for the honor or reputation of family. They are seen broadly, and not entirely accurately, as problems of Middle Eastern and south Asian countries.

However, French legal codes allowing the murder of unfaithful wives and their lovers, formed the basis of laws in about 15 Middle Eastern countries which allow ‘honor’ as mitigation against a femicide.  France abolished that code in the mid-seventies but calls by Arab women activists to repeal such laws have not received mass community support, and continue largely to fall upon deaf government ears.

So dissemination and education about such murders is an imperative, but media practitioners need to know how audiences will engage with their productions.

IAWRT Palestine member Benaz Batrawri recently presented such a paper entitled TV audience reception and honor killing: Meaning production and gender interpretations at AlNajah University in Nanlus city in the West Bank. It found that religious and civic law were not the only determinant factors in how an audience received a production focusing on honor killing.

The research was part of a MA thesis for Leicester University in the UK in 2008, and the summary was published in BirZeit University Review of Women Studies 2010; but Benaz says is still very relevant in Palestine where President Mahmoud Abbas has only repealed parts of a penal code that allows short sentences for the murders that might be only months or a few years.

Five women died in honor killings in the Palestinian territories in 2011. That number rose to 13 in 2012 and doubled to 26 in 2013. Amnesty International estimates that least 18 women and girls were victims of such killings in 2015-6. However, such figures are notoriously underestimated, can be disguised by forced suicides and contract killings, and do not include the deliberate disfigurement of women.

Benaz’s study focused on audience reception to two documentary and drama films by Palestinian filmmakers. Interestingly, men related more to the documentary form than women, who were drawn to drama. Women had sympathy for all characters/victims, but men qualified sympathy, depending on the circumstances. 

The summary she presented to the conference, attached below, revealed that all the viewers understood the films were trying to fight violence against women.  However, she told the conference “Not one man in the discussions stated that women should not be judged, have the absolute right to own and control their bodies, and the right to live without the fear of death as punishment.”

Elections and the future direction of IAWRT

The IAWRT board is urgently seeking member input about improving election procedures for the international board and for views on the organization’s work.

The issue has been a big part of recent member meetings, in New Delhi, India in 2016 and in Johannesburg, South Africa, 2017.Member input on how we can modernize the election process in the best and fairest manner is now being collated. The deadline to submit your views is 28 February 2017. Members may make any election suggestions to [email protected] reply to ELECTION PROCESS- YOUR VIEWS NEEDED or use that as the title for your email.

Suggested points to address (this is not exhaustive): How can we enable more member voting?  Currently about 10 per cent of paid up members who physically attend Biennial conferences can vote: Nomination process – Should we continue new nominations from the floor? (how could online voting or voting by email then work?);The role of the nomination committee? Should they just present nominated candidates or propose candidates for positions?; Is a new election procedure so important that the board should recommend waiving rules for changing statutes, to allow a new election process in 2017?

Members are also being asked to participate in a survey which is part of an external evaluation of IAWRT being funded by the IAWRT’s key funder, FOKUS Norway. Its main aim is to identify and assess our structure and capacity in light of our organizational and programmatic goals.

IAWRT President Gunilla Ivarsson (pictured above with Cambodian Chapter Vice-President: Ms Kim Thidakallianey) says the resulting report will be ready well before the 2017 Biennial conference and will provide an excellent tool for organizational development. It will be discussed at a workshop during the biennial members meeting.

It will take a small amount of time to fill in the survey, in order to influence the direction of IAWRT and contribute to building IAWRT for the future. If you have not received a link via email, contact [email protected]. An alternative Word version of the survey is available here, and may be filled in and sent to [email protected] before March 9th!

Members may make any election suggestions to [email protected]. Reply to the email; ‘Election Process- Your Views Needed’ or use that as the title for your email.