Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
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Taking stock of gender in media<br />
educati<strong>on</strong><br />
By Emily M. Brown<br />
Emily M. Brown is Head of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
Department of Media Technology,<br />
Polytechnic of Namibia<br />
152 | Media in Africa - 2011<br />
The Gender in Media Educati<strong>on</strong><br />
(GIME) audit that kicked off in<br />
Namibia in 2010 raises pertinent<br />
issues with regard to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> quality of<br />
our journalism. Implemented at <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
outset by UNESCO, Gender Links<br />
and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Polytechnic of Namibia, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
audit dealt with how gender was<br />
addressed in journalism training<br />
programmes and curricula.<br />
The goals were to identify:<br />
• whe<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r gender was integrated<br />
into media educati<strong>on</strong> and<br />
training,<br />
• whe<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r gender-related texts<br />
or materials were used in media<br />
educati<strong>on</strong> and training, and<br />
• gaps with regard to mainstreaming<br />
gender in journalism<br />
curricula.<br />
In <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Beijing Platform for Acti<strong>on</strong>,<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> media – as <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> 10th critical<br />
area of c<strong>on</strong>cern – have a major role<br />
to play regarding gender equality.<br />
Fur<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>rmore, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> SADC Protocol <strong>on</strong><br />
Gender and Development prescribes<br />
that gender parity ought to prevail<br />
in media houses by 2015.<br />
Meantime, however, it is not even<br />
comm<strong>on</strong> to have discourse that disaggregates<br />
informati<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> gender<br />
lines in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> media.<br />
Yet if <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> media are to c<strong>on</strong>tinue to<br />
inform and stimulate public debate<br />
and dialogue, we need journalists<br />
who have <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> ability to provide diverse<br />
perspectives <strong>on</strong> a particular<br />
issue – and be gender-sensitive in<br />
so doing. So much is hidden when<br />
reportage is packed with collective<br />
nouns such as “<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Sou<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>rn<br />
African Regi<strong>on</strong>”, “<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> students”,<br />
“<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> workers” or even “staff in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
newsroom”. Imagine how this could<br />
change when an engendered approach<br />
is adopted.<br />
However, according to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> GIME<br />
Sou<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>rn Africa (2010) – which covered<br />
25 instituti<strong>on</strong>s in 13 countries<br />
– journalism / media studies students<br />
receive very little <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>oretical<br />
grounding in gender. Implicit in this<br />
finding is that few instituti<strong>on</strong>s have<br />
integrated gender into <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir course<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tent.<br />
“SADC Protocol<br />
<strong>on</strong> Gender and<br />
Development<br />
prescribes that gender<br />
parity ought to prevail<br />
in media houses by<br />
2015.”<br />
Ano<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r finding of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> 2010 audit<br />
is that even fewer instituti<strong>on</strong>s have<br />
stand-al<strong>on</strong>e gender policies.<br />
Many of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> representatives of instituti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
surveyed could <strong>on</strong>ly make<br />
reference to broader affirmative acti<strong>on</strong><br />
policies and procedures, or to<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir country’s nati<strong>on</strong>al gender policy,<br />
in regard to vehicles for providing<br />
instituti<strong>on</strong>al guidelines for integrat-