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A project based on the successes of the 2014-2015 pilot Gender Mainstreaming Project (GMP) supplemented by UNESCO-Norway funding to develop best practice methodology to further our work in the area of freedom of speech and gender equality in the media.
A handbook which focuses on best practice for gender inclusiveness written by Greta Gober, a media researcher, IAWRT board member and chair of the Gender Mainstreaming Committee, based on her research and that conducted by Ann Mabel Sanyuas, a journalist/researcher specialising in gender and development, is the culmination of the 2018-9 project. It is based on the GMP pilot study and additional research collecting and compiling experiences and examples of best practices, focusing particularly on South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and India. It is due to be officially launched in Norway in 2019.
The GMP began with research on gender equality in media organizations (called the Gender Mainstreaming in Broadcasting Survey), followed by research on gender portrayal in media content (called the Gender Equality and Social Justice Monitoring). The GMB-Survey was conducted in 2014 in Kenya, Cambodia, India, Moldova, Tanzania, and South Africa and examined gender representation of all levels of staff as well as existing gender equality policies in public media organizations in the selected countries.
The Gender Equality and Social Justice Monitoring was conducted in 2015 in Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, India, Cambodia, USA, Moldova, and Poland resulting in the report, Gender Equality and Social Justice in Public Media available here. The designing and presentation of IAWRT workshops and initiatives on gender equality in the media inspired by the research reports and folow up by chapters in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and India are the backbone of the 2019 phase.
The GMP project was preceeded by IAWRT work contributing to the 2011 Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) guidelines, Broadcasting for All: Focus on Gender. Following that, IAWRT also contributed to UNESCO’s global consultations to develop its Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media.
In its various phases over 8 years the IAWRT GMP project has directly focused on ensuring women’s views and values are integral to media programming and that women in media can have an impact. GMP was the largest project conducted by IAWRT International in 2018 where workshops were organised by IAWRT chapters and research for the new handbook began.
The GMP 2018 focus
● Why gender equality is important and what items related to gender equality are more often reported by women journalists and neglected by males?
● How journalists, editors, and producers understand the importance of gender balance in the media, and what works best to convey the message of gender equality to media practitioners.
● How journalists, editors, and producers see the need for concrete guidelines on how gender equality can be realized in the media
● What strategies are helpful in keeping gender equality in focus throughout the daily difficulties and challenges of media work.
● What are the biggest obstacles to realizing gender equality in and through the media in practice and what are the best ways/examples of overcoming them
● What are the biggest cultural taboos that prevent gender balance from being reached in and by the media and how to overcome them.
● What is the need for guidelines and policies on how to prevent sexual harassment in media organizations and hate speech towards journalists.
Chapter GMP Activities
- Uganda: Re-discover to Re-impose workshop to create a sustainable pool of media Gender Mainstreaming Ambassadors
- Philippines: Empowering women across Radyo ni Juan Mindanao newsrooms, reportage and management in the time of the Duterte presidency
- Cameroon: End sexual harassment in newsrooms in Cameroonian media enterprises
- India: Sexual harassment prevention in the film industry
- Kenya: One day workshop on digital safety of journalists
- South Africa: Female Factor: Women and Workplace Sovereignty – Success Strategies for women working in the field, on sets (in front of and behind the camera), online, in radio and in newsrooms
- USA: Panel discussion on solutions for change in regards to gender equality in the media
- Iraq: Working to reduce inequality in the media in Kurdistan
- Norway: safety training and launch of GMP handbook
A workshop on IAWRT’s Gender Mainstreaming project 2018-9 outlined the project and way forward towards creating a handbook and disseminating information on best practices was held in Uganda in November 2018.
The session was chaired by Archana Kapoor. GMP committe and international board member. The video was produced by Lady Ann Salem and members of IAWRT-Philippines.
Gender mainstreaming workshops were held in 2018-9 in nine countries where IAWRT has chapters to provide applied learning grounded in the GMP research. Story here.
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