With its original slogan, “gender equality in and through the media” GL is credited with creating a gender and media movement in Southern Africa and contributing to this cause globally. GL leads the media cluster of the Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance. Click here for the latest media report in the GL annual report.
From the original Gender and Media Baseline Study, GL’s cutting edge gender and media research portfolio has covered the full range of media aspects including media education; gender within the media institutions and in media content. GL’s latest research is the 2018 Glass Ceiling Women in South Africa media houses research.
The Gender and Media Progress Study, remains GL’s largest regional research study yet, brings together all these components. In 2020 GL coordinated gender and media research covering all Southern African countries. Read the latest report here.
GL’s advocacy on gender and the media includes running gender and media campaigns based on research results, hosting the bi-annual Gender and Media Summits, and several research and book launches. GL is also the founding chair of the Global Alliance on Media and Gender. GL is also undertaking an advocacy campaign on engendering freedom of expression to promote digital equality an Advancing Rights In Southern Africa funded initiative. Read the preliminary findings of the Understanding Online Gender Based Violence report undertaken in 2021 here.
Policy work includes developing gender policies and codes of ethics with regulatory authorities; the Media Action Plan on HIV and AIDS and Gender that developed HIV and AIDS and Gender policies in 80% of the newsrooms of Southern Africa.
GL’s training work has transitioned to a more demand driven approach where GL media training services have been sought by various stakeholders. However, GL continues to offer media training to journalists from across the region on a smaller scale. Training is carried out using the training tools that GL has developed and refined over the years; . Recently GL conducted regional training on reporting Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). GL also continues to maintain the case studies and alerts database formally known as the Virtual Resource Centre that houses case studies gathered through GL media monitoring and used as training resources.
GL’s research, advocacy and training work on the media converged in the Centres of Excellence for Gender in the Media in 108 newsrooms across Southern Africa. GL is also working with eight Centres of Excellence for Gender in Media Education which form part of the Gender and Media Diversity Centre.
GL coordinates the Gender and Media Diversity Centre, a partnership based on “connection, collection and collaboration” between media development NGOs and knowledge institutions. The Media programme’s target group includes media houses, journalism and media training institutions, media regulatory bodies, gender and media networks, trainers, researchers as well as journalism and media students.
