Table of contents:

About the author(s):

Description:

Over the past 70 years, the United Nations and its agencies have promoted the equal participation of women and men in all efforts to promote sustainable development and lasting peace, on the basis of human rights and fundamental freedoms. One of the milestones along this journey has been the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action at the Fourth World Conference on Women convened by the United Nations in Beijing in 1995. The Beijing Platform for Action, to which 189 countries committed themselves, constitutes a global framework for realizing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Today, almost 20 years after the Beijing Conference, as the global community is intensifying efforts towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and work on shaping a post-2015 development agenda with new Development Goals, a critical opportunity presents itself to position gender equality and women’s empowerment at the center of the global agenda, both as an important end in itself and as an essential means for the achievement of sustainable development in all its dimensions.

All United Nations agencies are required to promote gender equality within the framework of their mandates. UNESCO with five distinct major programmes in education, the sciences, culture and communication and information, can also make an original contribution by promoting a holistic approach to gender equality and development. In fact, since 2008, the promotion of gender equality has been one of the two global priorities of the Organization.

Within its major programme on Communication and Information, the UNESCO Chair on Media and Gender at the Communication University of China, led by Professor Liu Liqun, has helped the Organization transform into action its initiatives for promoting gender equality in and through the media. Throughout 2013 and 2014, the Chair piloted the UNESCO’s Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media (GSIM) in Chinese newsrooms to assess their gender awareness and gender sensitivity. In-depth media monitoring based on GSIM conducted by the Chair found that there are still large numbers of gender stereotypes in the news reports; men still dominate the news as subjects of the news reports, while women continue to be underrepresented in the media.

These findings are consistent with global trends. According to the Global Report on the Status of Women in News Media, women are under-represented in 73% of the media surveyed in Sub-Saharan Africa, 50% in Asia and Oceania, and 46% in the Americas. In the Asia-Pacific region, men occupied the vast majority of managerial and newsgathering positions, with women barely 13% of senior management positions. Factors like institutionalised prejudices and gender stereotyping are causing women in the news to be marginalised in terms of career choices and opportunities for upward mobility available to them. These numbers are an evidence of the necessity for increased efforts to address this complex and pressing issue.

Cognizant of the need to promote gender equality in the media, in December 2013, UNESCO, together with media and NGO partners, organized the first Global Forum on Media and Gender. The Forum established a Global Alliance for Media and Gender (GAMAG) aimed at pursuing gender equality in media systems, structures and content. The Chair’s participation in the Forum made China’s voice heard and through thoughtful interventions added value to the deliberations of the conference.

In moving forward, UNESCO will continue to work closely with its Chair on Media and Gender at the Communication University of China to push for improved gender quality in China’s media, as well as to foster regional and national exchanges and collaborations. Through these collaborative efforts, we hope to help craft a better future.