Gender Links launches new media platforms

Gender Links Deputy Director Kubi Ruma announced this week that the organisation’s new social media platforms are officially live.

In an interactive session entitled “Entering the E-zone”, Rama put Gender Links’ social media platforms into practice with GEM Summit participants.

“We are very happy to share this space with everyone,” said Rama. “We set it up to create a community, a gender and media community. It’s collaborative, it’s a community, and we would love for people to use it.”

The latest addition to this online community is the Gender Links Facebook page and Twitter discussions about the GEM Summit. Any comments and “tweets” relating to Gender Links will be fed directly into their website.

However, Gender Links Executive Director Colleen Lowe Morna warned that although social media tools are a good way of getting gender messages out, they are no excuse for poor journalism practice.

“We will never find the views and voices of women if we sit in our armchairs and get quotes from the internet,” she said.

Yet in a presentation Thursday, Gertrude Pswarayi, a feminist and freelance journalist said that “ICTs are to development as taps are to water”. This is telling of her passionate belief in the advocacy potentials of online media.

She mentioned her excitement about the Twittering session because “this is power and power is in your hands”. Pswarayi also included the caveat that young girls who use social media must be adequately trained to protect themselves from online stalkers.

The perils and possibilities of ICTs in gender activism have been widely discussed this week, particularly in the “Community and social media” sessions. In one of these sessions, Tonya Graham, a Canadian delegate commented, “Social networking is something that is currently under-utilised.”

Journalism trainers Friday also resolved to mainstream gender into 14 courses that were analysed, noting that new media is one area where there is room for growth.

University of Swaziland head of department of Journalism and Mass Communication Adidi Uyo hailed the Fourth GEM Summit as having been an eye-opener as far as mainstreaming gender into his courses.

“Gender was not part of our menu. Now I will bring it into my courses be it research, theory or even news writing,” Uyo said.

In her study on gender in media curriculum, Pat Made revealed that very few institutions in the region offer core courses on gender, or gender and the media.

Uyo said the three-day meeting has created awareness on gender issues and gave him ideas about how to incorporate gender into courses so students can bring in a gender perspective to all issues.

The Polytechnic of Namibia’s Head Emily Brown also noted that using social media tools is a great way to incorporate gender discussions into high school curriculum.