“Promoting Gender Equality in and through the Media: A Southern African Case Study”

A paper prepared for the Expert Group Meeting on “Participation and access of women to the media, and its impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of womenÀ

On 8 October 2002, readers of the respected French newspaper Le Figaro are reported to have seen double. They received two versions of the newspaper. One had the usual mix of crime, politics, international upheaval and business. Another covered the same basic issues, but women produced the newspaper from beginning to end.

The feminised experiment edition, called Le Figaro Femmes had the same overall layout, but contained an opinion piece about women being sidelined internationally, a story about the male-female wage gap, a profile of United States National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, the three women candidates for the Argentinian presidential elections in March, and a story on women from Cote d’Ivoire demonstrating against conflict in their country. In short, according to Agence France Press, the paper contained articles “short on violence and long on relationships, gender justice and families.À

On 9 October in Johannesburg, where I am based, I received an excited phone call from my husband at about mid morning when he read about the Le Figaro experiment in our local “StarÀ newspaper. “You see,À he said, “the work you are doing is worthwhile.À

The question I have asked myself since then is this: if one newspaper can “feminizeÀ its news for one day, and see the difference, then why can’t the news be feminised every day? What effect would that have on the way we see the world, perhaps even on world peace and security? For those of us who are both passionate media practitioners and advocates of gender equality, the Le Figaro experiment must surely give us the courage to march on.
In this paper I will try to outline:

• Some of the key issues regarding both the representation and portrayal of women and men in the media;
• Suggest some strategies for addressing these, based on the experience of Gender Links, a Southern African organisation that works to promote gender equality in and
  through the media;
• Suggest some of the measures that might be taken by bodies such as the United Nations to ensure gender balance in the media- beyond the many statements and declarations that have already been made on this matter.

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