Mainstreaming Gender into Media Education

The Gender and Media Baseline Study 2002 shows that women constitute only 17 % of news sources in the Southern African media. Women are also portrayed in a far more limited number of roles than men, most frequently either as sex objects or as victims of violence. As much as freedom of expression is hailed as a fundamental human right, the news media seem to exclude the perspectives and views of large portions of the population.

This paper explores the role of training in changing the hierarchic approach to sourcing in the news media into more inclusive and diverse approaches by reviewing key projects initiated by Gender Links* and its partners.

In particular this article serves as an interim report of a three-year pilot project on mainstreaming gender into entry-level journalism education, which the Department of Media Technology at the Polytechnic of Namibia and Gender Links embarked on in 2002.

ISBN: Colleen Lowe Morna and Pauliina Shilongo, 2003
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