Promoting Global Alliance on Media and Gender

The UNESCO joins forces with international and regional partners to launch the annual 'Women Make the News' initiative on the occasion of International Women's Day on March 08, 2014.  In line with that initiative, it has perfectly selected the theme: 'Promoting the Global Alliance on Media and Gender'.
During this event, UNESCO and its partners will invite newspaper, radio, and television editors or chiefs on and offline to join the initiative, and to produce special supplements/programmes on these topics, and to entrust women journalists with editorial responsibility in the newsroom for a limited period over the duration of the Women Make the News initiative.
Women Make the News is a global initiative aimed at raising global awareness of the gender equality issue in and through the media, and driving debates. The goal also includes encouraging action-oriented solutions until global objectives are met. It is to this end that UNESCO has developed resources such as the Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media (GSIM).
GSIM mentions that there are no human rights without equal rights for women and men - no true freedom of expression without gender equality. UNESCO continues to be on the forefront of the drive for gender equality. The purpose of this GSIM tool is to facilitate gender equality and women empowerment in and through the media of all forms, irrespective of the technology used. The tool addresses topics related to internal media policy and strategies, as well as capacity building. It is versatile as with it the media organisations can:
n Assess their gender sensitivity;
n Formulate necessary policies and strategies to address the gaps detected;
n Set measurable goals; and
n Monitor progress towards desired goals.
The last year's theme of the International Women's Day was A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence against Women.  It was one of the main topics addressed during the Global Forum on Media and Gender, which took place in Bangkok, Thailand, between December 02-04, 2013.
This year's subject Women Make the News is connected to the success of the Global Alliance on Media and Gender. It was launched after the Global Forum on Media and Gender. It is one of the most important follow-ups on the gender and media objectives of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. We envisage it as a prelude to 'Beijing plus 20', and as an opportunity to speed up the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
The Washington-based International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) has observed that women are virtually invisible as active participants in work outside the home. Only 13 per cent of news stories are focused on women, and only 24 per cent of the people heard of in the news are women. When reporters quote experts as part of their investigation, 80 per cent of them are found to be men. And only 6.0 per cent of news stories highlight gender equality. Considering all these issues, we must make sure that women provide equal representation in the media (e.g., print, electronic and social.) Listen to women, because women are unheard due to different causes.  Media houses must support and connect women journalists equally like men.  Women's under-representation in the media pushes them back to a state of facing vulnerabilities, gender inequality and inequity. We must become more realistic instead of being romantic to disbelieve the phrase that 'women are more beautiful when they are quiet'. Rather give the women platform to speak, enjoy the joys of breaking the silence, embracing the success of actions that are equally participated and internationally celebrated.
 Therefore, UNESCO and its partners are inviting media organisations, professional associations, journalists' unions, women and men working in the media and the civil society to use March 08 as the platform to share their thoughts and find ways to implement the Global Alliance for Media and Gender. They must share their experiences and best practices in reporting on or advocating for the end of violence against women.
We should also find out the answers to the Questions: Do national gender policies and strategies exist in our country? Is media featured in these policies and strategies? What has been the impact of media involvement in these gender policies and strategies? UNECO assumes that the media houses will agree to be a partner of the 2014 edition of Women Make the News as they are members of the Global Alliance.
 Different groups of different countries of the world select their own International Women's Day theme, specific to their local contexts. The 'internationalwomensday.com global hub' selected their theme this year as 2014: Inspiring Change, to encourage advocacy for women's advancement everywhere in every way. It says women's equality has made positive gains, but the world is still unequal. International Women's Day celebrates the social, political and economic achievements of women, focusing world attention on areas that require further action. It calls for challenging the status quo for women's equality and vigilance inspiring positive changes. The vast array of communication channels, supportive spokespeople, equality research, campaigns and corporate responsibility initiatives means everyone can be an advocate inspiring changes for women's advancement.
In 1910, the second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. Clara Zetkin, who was a leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, tabled the idea of an International Women's Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day of a 'Women's Day' to press for their demands. After the decision was accepted at Copenhagen in 1911, the International Women's Day began to be observed.
International Women's Day is an occasion to reflect on progresses made, to call for changes and to celebrate the acts of courage and determination by ordinary women, who have played great roles in the history of their countries and communities.
The writer is a journalist,           author and gender expert. [email protected]