Diversity Exchange, Issue 14, February 2011

Date: February 9, 2011

Diversity Exchange

Issue 14 | February 2011

Contents

Editor’s Note

A few weeks ago there was a revolution in Tunisia. Some sources say the revolution was not televised, but rather twitterised. On 14 January, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali dissolved his government, called for legislative elections in six months and promised not to run in 2014. But this late decision did not quiet public anger on social media platforms, in particular Facebook and Twitter. Later that evening, the president fled Tunis. Read more…


		GMDC News

Media literacy and GIME: One leads to the other

The struggle to ensure that women and men are given equal voice in and through the media is embedded in the broader struggle for press freedom. Until recently, much of GL’s work focused on media producers (editors and journalists) as well as media shapers (NGOs and decision makers). The 2003 Gender and Media Audience Study ushered in a new area of work around media consumers, eventually leading to the development of a gender and media literacy kit. Read more…

Working with media regulators in Botswana and Malawi

Gender mainstreaming in media regulation has been central to Gender Links’ efforts to achieve equality in and through the media. It has also been central to the fight for freedom of expression and critical to citizenship, participation, and responsive governance. GL believes that it is thus important to extend support for the development of gender policies for regulatory authorities. Read more…

GL getting closer to the communities

Community media is on the rise! Journalism is expanding from its traditional realm and moving into small communities throughout the region, reaching out to new audiences and reporting on new stories. Southern Africa’s robust community media sector also presents numerous opportunities for Gender Links to work more closely with communities. Read more…

Ear on radio

The pervasiveness and cost of sexual harassment has become a growing concern in Southern Africa. This form of gender-based violence is a manifestation of sex-based discrimination. What is sexual harassment? What are your rights in the workplace? Kubi Rama, the Deputy Director of Gender Links comments on sexual harassment. Read more…

Radio station gives women the controls

A new radio station in Liberia airs national broadcasts about women’s interests and needs. It also grooms female journalists, a tall order in a country where 14 years of civil war have left women’s literacy levels lagging far behind. Women are turning to the station for help, says Estella Nelson, executive director of the Monrovia-based Liberia Women Media Action Committee, the station’s parent organisation. Read more…

Knowledge is power: GMDC participates at the SCECSAL

The GMDC joined good friends to discuss good books at a recent bookish event in Botswana. The half day event was for the Standing Conference for African National and University Librarians, Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (SCANUL). GL’s delegation was led by Kathy Matsika from the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe, who is also the current GMDC Chair. Read more…

Eye on video

Violence against women is now taking new forms and occurring in online spaces or through the use of ICTs. As more and more women go online using computers and mobile phones, many are silenced through acts of violence, sexism and censorship. In most cases women do not know what to do to protect themselves against such violations. Nor are there adequate measures adopted by telecommunications companies, internet service providers and software developers to protect users’ privacy, security and safety. Read more…


		Partner News

US$12,000 grants for women-led new media projects

J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism and the McCormick Foundation are seeking to fund four women-led projects that will rock the world of journalism. The McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs program will give one-time funding of $12,000 to women who have the vision, skills and experience to launch a new venture. Read more…

IWMF to host Third International Conference of Women Media Leaders

Full participation of women in the news media is far from reality. Female professionals continue to face cultural and institutional constraints in order to inform the world. Without women media leaders in key positions of influence and decision-making, the unequal politics of gender representation will prevail. No press is truly free unless women have an equal voice in both news gathering and the decision making process. Read more…


		GL Opinion & Commentaries

Mauritius: Sex workers deserve protection

While Mauritius is cited as a regional model for democracy it is also known for its poor performance in combating gender-based violence (GBV). There has never been any substantial research to quantify, measure, or prevent GBV. Politicians and stakeholders want immediate results and therefore do not finance research that might take time. It makes us a nation of fire fighters, always putting out the flames but not trying to find ways to stop them from igniting in the first place. Read more…

Zambia: TV ads threatening womenââ‚¬â„¢s gains

When Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was elected the first African female head of state she said her success represented a victory for women who have been working to improve their role in African society. Five years since her ascendance to power one would have hoped that the Liberian leader had proven a womanââ‚¬â„¢s role is not about serving a man. Alas, this is not the case if one looks at the way women continue to be portrayed in Zambian advertisements. It appears there is a systematic campaign to remind women their place is still in the kitchen. Read more…

Southern Africa: Difference does not equal insanity

Question one: how many people do you know who are transsexual, transgendered or intersex? Question two: how many times have you come across the voices of such people when you hear about gender-based violence? Question three: what exactly does gender mean? Read more…


		Seminars

Gender, media and local government elections

Gender, media and local government elections will be the topic of discussion at a seminar to be held on 15 February in Pretoria, South Africa. The seminar will be jointly hosted by Gender Links, the Gender and Media Diversity Centre and the South Africa Local Government Association (SALGA). Political parties will be invited to speak and outline their party quotas. Read more…


		Upcoming Events

Malawi: Gender and media regulation in Malawi, 31 January to 1 February

Botswana: Media literacy with students from the department of Media Studies, University of Botswana

Botswana: Launch of the GMPS and GIME reports, President Hotel, Gaborone, 1 February 2011

Lesotho: Media literacy with students from the department of Media Studies, National University of Lesotho

Madagascar: Gender entry points into the curriculum of the Department of Journalism, 14 – 17 February, University of Antananarivo


		GMDC Databases

Clippings

KG takes a leap to top management – Sowetan

One of the most seasoned radio personalities Kgomotso ‘KG’ Moeketsi has landed a top management job at the Media Diversity and Development Agency to manage the chief executive’s office. She assumed her duties last week at the agency, charged with the crucial responsibility of diversifying the ownership of the media, a sort of birthday gift since she is turning 40 next month. Read more…

Legalise sex work – The Monitor

The Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/ AIDS (BONELA) has called for the decriminalisation of sex work because its practice underground exacerbates the spread of HIV and AIDS. Worse still, lack of specific legislation that prohibits sex work hampers access to prevention and treatment and it exposes sex workers to countless forms of abuse and harassment. Read more…

Awards for dedicated Metro cops – Sowetan

Hardworking Johannesburg Metro Police were honoured for their commitment. Dressed in formal clothing, officers flocked to the Thornbirds conference centre in the Vaal on Friday night for the first JMPD awards. The categories included crowd management, crime prevention, police visibility, arresting people for cable theft and manholes to even arresting rape suspects. Read more…

Research

A tabloid campaign to fight gender-based violence

The Gender Links 2008 research, Gender and tabloids in Southern Africa recommended that gender and media activists “conduct campaigns to publicise and devise strategies for increasing gender awareness and sensitivity in the tabloid industry”. This was after the research found out that women’s views are often ignored in tabloids and they further reinforce gender stereotypes in the roles that women and men are portrayed. Nonhlanhla Dewa carried out research titled: An analysis of the Daily Sun’s “Charter for a Man” campaign. The study seeks to interrogate the gender constructions in the campaign which ran from 7 November to 7 December 2007. Read more…

Gender security, gendered violence and social justice

This paper locates the development of girls schooling and the promotion of gender equality through schooling (the subject of MDG Goal 3) within the context of the ambition to have achieved by 2011, a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers (MDG Goal 7). Read more…

Gendered dimensions of food security in South Africa: A literature review

This short study provides a broad literature review of the gendered dimensions of food security in South Africa with recourse to the current critical literature focused on South and Southern Africa, and to a lesser extent, Africa. The study embraces a qualitative approach, and provides an exploratory and descriptive design aligned to the gendered context of food security. Read more…

Case Studies

Africa Magic encourages gender subjugation

The new Africa Magic TVC advertising Yoruba-movies station has left undesirable impressions on the minds of viewers. A man and his wife meet a marriage counselor to iron out their matrimonial issues. The poor lady complains of idling away all day, saying she would love to have something profitable doing. Read more…

Sexist remarks at female match official

Richard Keys and Andy Gray of Sky Sports are products of modern television’s habit of recasting broadcasters as “personalities”, celebrities, players in the great drama on field and screen. With this power, often, comes an arrogance and an inability to size up the world outside the studio. Read more…

Feminist motherhood

Sister Namibia’s Sheena Magenya proudly walked away with a prestigious award at the GEM Summit for her Opinion and Commentary titled “Feminist motherhood.” She pointed out that as a “feminist writer, you sometimes think that your understanding of the world and especially gender relations is isolated. This award showed me and other feminist writers out there that there are people who agree (in thought if not in actions!) with the change that the feminist movement wishes to see happen in our society.” Read more…

Publications

Gender, Conflict and Journalism: voices from South Asia

This handbook was conceived during the planning for the UNESCO-Nepal Press Institute first roundtable on The Gender Perspective in Conflict Reporting, conducted April 7-9, 2004 in Kathmandu, Nepal. This handbook is a compilation of emerging ideas, strategies and professional skills that journalists can wield against the entrenched traditions and new threats which constrain free expression and the achievement of gender equality and conflict resolution. Read more…

This Seat is Taken: elections and the under-representation of women in seven Southern African countries

Achieving gender equality is one of the major challenges facing democratic governance in SADC. The countries surveyed in this book provide instances in which women’s representation is significantly low. The contributions in this book consider the importance of gender equality in elections. Each contribution assesses the commitment of gender equality on the part of policy makers, law makers, political party leaders, electoral authorities and civil society in the country concerned. Read more…

Dancing to the Tunes of Democracy: women and political party agendas

How far are political parties in Uganda implementing commitments to include women and how do they deal with gender issues in their party agendas? Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) commissioned a study in 2007 to analyse gender issues in political party agendas in Uganda. ‘Dancing to the tunes of Democracy: women and political party agendas’ finds that despite the modest commitments to women and gender issues by all leading political parties, they have not done enough to ensure effective women representation in their structures and gender mainstreaming. Read more…


		Internships				Members

Internships

Welcome to our new interns

On 1 February Gender Links will be welcoming three new interns who will join us for the next six months. The interns are Daud Kayisi (University of Malawi), Thato Linda Phakela (National University of Lesotho) and Violet Hunadi Ralebipi (University of Limpopo). They all come from journalism and media education institutions in SADC, two of which have recently signed MOUs with the GMDC: the University of Limpopo and the National University of Lesotho. We hope that extending the internship opportunity to these institutions will strengthen the standing relationship between the GMDC and SADC training institutions. Read more…

Members

University of Antananarivo

This month we welcome the University of Antananarivo to the GMDC family. Pr Abel Andriantsimahavandy signed an MOU on 10 December on behalf of the university. The partnership is based on the mutual interests of the two institutions, including a commitment to gender equity in and through the media, exchange and utilisation of knowledge products, mainstreaming of gender in media education and enhancing access to information through Open Source Education and online learning. Read more…

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Diversity Exchange, Issue 14, February 2011

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