Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

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state explicitly that freedom of expression must be understood as equal voice for women and men — not just for “people”. This perspective is reinforced by <strong>the</strong> Sou<strong>the</strong>rn African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development, which calls for equality in and through <strong>the</strong> media. The Protocol also promotes gender mainstreaming in policies and training, as well as sensitive coverage of gender violence, HIV and AIDS. Many a cynical editor argues that gender biases in <strong>the</strong> media are just “<strong>the</strong> way of <strong>the</strong> world”, and that no band of NGO crusaders is going to change this. The fourth Gender and Media Summit held under <strong>the</strong> banner “Gender, Media, Diversity and Change” late last year made <strong>the</strong> case, through vivid examples, that change is possible. “Since <strong>the</strong> first global study in 1995, to <strong>the</strong> latest in 2010, <strong>the</strong> proportion of women sources in <strong>the</strong> media has risen from 17% to 25% globally, and from 16% to 19% in Africa.” For example, in 2003 women constituted 14% of sources at <strong>the</strong> Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation, <strong>the</strong> first media house to work with GL in developing a gender policy. The GMPS shows that this figure has since doubled. What’s more, says Deputy Director General Rekha Sooborun, <strong>the</strong> gender policy has prompted <strong>the</strong> public broadcaster to think more broadly and critically about what it means to serve <strong>the</strong> public, half of whom are women. Armed with <strong>the</strong> SADC Gender Protocol and evidence from <strong>the</strong> ground, GL is working with media education partners in <strong>the</strong> Gender and Media Diversity Centre, as well as 100 media houses across <strong>the</strong> region, on creating a number of “Gender and Media Centres of Excellence”. The collective target is to ensure that women constitute at least 30% news sources by 2015: a target good for business, good for democracy, and good for media freedom. As Bob Marley might have said: who feels it knows it (so let <strong>the</strong>m speak!) and none but ourselves (caught in this silent censorship) can free our minds. So let’s do a little reasoning. Ya mon! Section 3: Independence Media in Africa - 2011 | 151
Taking stock of gender in media education By Emily M. Brown Emily M. Brown is Head of <strong>the</strong> Department of Media Technology, Polytechnic of Namibia 152 | Media in Africa - 2011 The Gender in Media Education (GIME) audit that kicked off in Namibia in 2010 raises pertinent issues with regard to <strong>the</strong> quality of our journalism. Implemented at <strong>the</strong> outset by UNESCO, Gender Links and <strong>the</strong> Polytechnic of Namibia, <strong>the</strong> audit dealt with how gender was addressed in journalism training programmes and curricula. The goals were to identify: • whe<strong>the</strong>r gender was integrated into media education and training, • whe<strong>the</strong>r gender-related texts or materials were used in media education and training, and • gaps with regard to mainstreaming gender in journalism curricula. In <strong>the</strong> Beijing Platform for Action, <strong>the</strong> media – as <strong>the</strong> 10th critical area of concern – have a major role to play regarding gender equality. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, <strong>the</strong> SADC Protocol on Gender and Development prescribes that gender parity ought to prevail in media houses by 2015. Meantime, however, it is not even common to have discourse that disaggregates information on gender lines in <strong>the</strong> media. Yet if <strong>the</strong> media are to continue to inform and stimulate public debate and dialogue, we need journalists who have <strong>the</strong> ability to provide diverse perspectives on a particular issue – and be gender-sensitive in so doing. So much is hidden when reportage is packed with collective nouns such as “<strong>the</strong> Sou<strong>the</strong>rn African Region”, “<strong>the</strong> students”, “<strong>the</strong> workers” or even “staff in <strong>the</strong> newsroom”. Imagine how this could change when an engendered approach is adopted. However, according to <strong>the</strong> GIME Sou<strong>the</strong>rn Africa (2010) – which covered 25 institutions in 13 countries – journalism / media studies students receive very little <strong>the</strong>oretical grounding in gender. Implicit in this finding is that few institutions have integrated gender into <strong>the</strong>ir course content. “SADC Protocol on Gender and Development prescribes that gender parity ought to prevail in media houses by 2015.” Ano<strong>the</strong>r finding of <strong>the</strong> 2010 audit is that even fewer institutions have stand-alone gender policies. Many of <strong>the</strong> representatives of institutions surveyed could only make reference to broader affirmative action policies and procedures, or to <strong>the</strong>ir country’s national gender policy, in regard to vehicles for providing institutional guidelines for integrat-
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MEDIA IN AFRICA Twenty</str
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This work is licensed under <strong
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A small publisher gets technology t
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Foreword By Janis Karklins Janis Ka
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This is MISA By Kaitira Kandjii Kai
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overview overvie Overview
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What then have bee
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and the results we
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critical to journalism as well as t
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matters. Some people could, for ins
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two publications for six months on
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4.2.2 Criminal defamation A major o
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as they made point
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Journalists at work, interviewing S
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5.4 Tabloid success One area where
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Journalists is that its strength re
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proposed codes not only for African
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Studies; African Communication Rese
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Overview Correlating this picture i
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that nourish journalism are not end
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watchdogs. A profile of Ugandan jou
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FREEDOM Freedom
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independent Namibia, set th
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Sierra Leone 39. Mr. Paul Kamara, E
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media that was independent of gover
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The February working session includ
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Media making for socio-political de
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timate the importa
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in corruption. The international co
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African journalists need protection
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Tribute to a committed photojournal
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Section 1: Freedom Anton Hammerl, a
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African media should inspire unders
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information and the</strong
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majority of the ca
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party of President Robert Mugabe to
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The real reasons for the</s
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Thus, the self-reg
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But the legacy of
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A visitor to Harare on a cold 19 Ju
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PLURALIS
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At the time, <stro
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Circulation of newspapers in South
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Misreading the mar
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African media have generally perfor
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Around Africa, the
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Community radio stations across Afr
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Fresh air-waves in Zambia By Mike D
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and consequently undermines media c
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How we started The Observer By Jame
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Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

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