Empowering Women through Traditional and Emerging Media

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Empowering Women through Traditional and Emerging
Media Panel Chair Peri Shamsai Panel Members
Lori Post, Diane Butts, Julia Wilson Friday 8
June 2007
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Media is increasingly being recognized as a
critical arena for promoting gender equity

• The first 3 UN conferences on women from 1975-85
  barely mentioned media
• 1995 Beijing Platform for Action on Women in
  Media was the first UN conference on women to
  emphasize Media as a key area for promoting
  gender equity
• 2000 review of the implementation of the Beijing
  Declarations and Platform for Action
• Information Communication Technologies (ICTs)
  was called out as a major area of focus for
  empowering women
• WFEO conference has followed suit in including a
  panel on media in its Women and Technology
  conference
• The media discussed include
• Traditional Media, which focus on TV, radio,
  newspapers, music and film
• Emerging Media, including Internet and Mobile

Note The views presented in the panel are those
of the panel participants and do not represent
the views of their institutions of affiliation.
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Examinations of gender roles in traditional media
have focused on three key areas

• Womens employment in media industries
• While data is difficult to obtain, it appears as
  though women have made little progress in this
  arena
• Women represent a paltry 3 of the senior media
  workforce globally
• The EU and US have higher female employment in
  the media industries, representing 9 and 12
  respectively
• These numbers are significantly below womens
  employment in Fortune 500 companies, which tend
  to range around 161

Women in Traditional Media Workforce2
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1Catalyst (2005) 2Margaret Gallagher, Women,
Media and Democratic Society UN-DAW (2002) and
The Annenberg Public Policy Center (2001)
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The two other arenas of traditional media
analysis also show few signs of improvement
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Women as News Subjects Globally

• Womens under-representation in media
• The Global Media Monitoring Project surveyed
  womens representation in news globally
• Found that women have grown only marginally from
  17 of news subjects to 21 between 1995 and 2005
• Negative stereotyping of women in the media
• Depictions of women in the news media globally
  tend to focus on their status as celebrities and
  their negative roles in legal or social events,
  rather than focusing on their contributions to
  politics government

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21
Women News Subjects Globally
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Source Global Media Monitoring Project (2006)
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This treatment of women is out-of-sync with real
progress women have made in politics

• Womens parliamentary representation has grown
• Womens representation in parliaments globally
  has grown from 3 in 1945 to over 15 by the
  January 2004 elections
• But senior leadership positions are far fewer2
• Out of 180 countries, 14 are head-ed by women 6
  women are Vice Presidents
• With 49 of seats won by women in the recent
  parliamentary elections Rwanda became the country
  that has the most number of women
  parliamentarians in the world (No 2 women in
  Sweden hold 45)

Women in Parliaments Globally1
CAGR 6.88
1Facts and Figures on Womens Participation in
Politics, Governance, and Decision-Making, Online
Women in Politics (2002) and Women Elected in
2003 The Year in Perspective (Jan 2004) 2Womens
Learning Partnership (2002)
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In contrast to traditional media, emerging media
show little gender gap
Gender Gap in Global Internet Use1

• The Digital Future Report shows that the gap has
  been decreasing globally from 7.5 in 2000 to
  2.5 in 2003
• The World Internet Project docu-mented a larger
  average gap of 8 in 2003
• This gap varies widely by region with the US
  averaging only a 4 gap and Southern Europe
  averaging nearly a 15 gap
• Mobile penetration rates in developing countries
  tends to be higher than Internet access rates
• Emerging media are offering new forms of economic
  empowerment for women by providing cheaper,
  faster easier access to consumers businesses
  (i.e., C2C, B2C B2B)

Gender Gap in Internet Use by Region2
1The Digital Future Report Surveying the Digital
Future Year Four (USC Annenberg School,
2004) 2World Internet Project (UCLA Center for
Communication Policy, 2002-2003). Countries
included Britain, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan,
Korea, Macao, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan
and the US with age ranges from 12-80.
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Todays panel will explore these areas of new
opportunities opening up for women in media

• What are some of the major gender trends in
  traditional and emerging media?
• How are these developments being used to empower
  women?
• What can women do to further promote positive
  images of women throughout all media forms?

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Todays panelists represent leaders in both
traditional emerging technologies

• Julia Wilson, President Founder of Wilson
  Global Communications (WGC)
• Ran WGC from Johannesburg and Accra, Ghana for
  five years
• Creator, executive producer and host of On the
  Continent, an international television program
  focusing on progress and development in Africa
• Produced marketing campaigns run special events
  for African dignitaries and major corporations,
  including Coke, AREVA TD, First Lady Senator
  Hilary Rodham Clinton the President of Liberia
  Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

• Diane Butts, Head of Africa Division Television
  Voice of America
• Spent more than 15 years producing TV programming
  for viewers in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Areas of focus include politics, health (e.g.,
  HIV/AIDS), human rights, gender equality gender
  violence
• Work emphasizes the changing roles of women in
  Sub-Saharan Africa

• Lori Post, Michigan State University
• Assistant Dean for Research in the College of
  Communication Arts Sciences
• Assistant Prof. in the Dept. of
  Telecommunication, Information Studies Media
• Areas of research include technology and gender
  studies, with a regional specialization on Africa
• Advisor to city, state federal organizations to
  reduce violence against women
• Secured gt 15M for research on the impact of
  technology to improve public health and violence
  against women.

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Question 1a What are some of the major gender
trends in traditional media?

• Julia
• Women are increasingly becoming decision-makers
  and socially empowered with political authority
  in government, private industry and media
  organizations.
• The number of women in politics has grown in
  recent years, they are still under-represented
  and face innumerable obstacles to full
  participation. In 2006, less than 17 percent of
  parliamentarians were women, according to IPU,
  and elected women head only 13 of the worlds 194
  states and governments, as reported by the
  Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership.
• Womens images in advertising are also starting
  to change (Advertising Educational Foundation)
• Women journalists are also taking up the cause,
  becoming more pervasive in print and behind and
  in front of the cameras
• 35 newsrooms are women 17 are minority women
  (American Society of Newspaper Editors)
• 20 of radio news directors are women (Radio TV
  News Directors Association)
• Contributing factors include education,
  economics, changing images of women, increased
  networking and demographics

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Question 1a What are some of the major gender
trends in traditional media?

• Diane
• The US is starting to see signs of progress
• TV Number of female-centered dramas increased
  from 8 shows in the 70s 80s to 37 dramas in
  2000 (Media Report to Women)
• News Women were just 14 of guests on Sunday
  morning political talk shows in 2005, which is a
  3 increase from 2001
• Entertainment Women accounted for 40 of all
  characters in 2005-2006
• However, Hip Hop, Reality TV and
  fashion-dominated depictions of women still
  pervasively reinforce negative gender stereotypes
• Africa has been slow to follow (UNESCO sponsored
  Media for Equality Portrayal of Women in
  Southern African Media, 2004)
• Radio stations have 9 women out of 50 people
• Of 180 programs broadcast each week, 12 are about
  women
• Women constitute only 19 of news sources in
  South Africa (South African Gender Media
  Audience Study, 2002)
• Top Women Gender Headlines also tend to focus
  on negative portrayals of women (see Appendix for
  details)

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Question 1b What are some of the major gender
trends in emerging media?

• Diane
• Emerging media is increasingly becoming an arena
  of progress, particularly throughout Africa
• Mobile subscribers have increased more than 1000
  between 1998 and 2003, reaching 51.8M and
  amounting to over double the number of fixed-line
  phones
• 30 African countries have more mobile than
  fixed-line customers (BBC, 2003)
• Kenya is the fastest growing mobile market in the
  world
• However, landline telephone penetration
  internet access remains far behind the rest of
  the world

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Question 1b What are some of the major gender
trends in emerging media?

• Lori
• There are two critical areas impacted by emerging
  media
• The dissemination, distribution, consumption and
  use of information has dramatically increased due
  to emerging media
• The economic benefits of emerging media are vast
• However, there is a great Global Digital Divide
• Disparities in access to the Internet
• But the great African success story is Mobile
• In 2004, Africa added 15M new cell subscribers to
  their base
• Over the past 10 years, the number of landlines
  per 100 population has stagnated with 3.1 per 100
  
• The average annual growth rate of mobile
  subscribers is 82.3 vs. 55 for the Americas
• Creative business models, such as pre-paid plans,
  are better suited for the African market

Source Vanessa Gray (2006) The un-wired
continent Africas mobile success story.
International Telecommunication Union
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Question 2 In what ways have these developments
been used to empower women?

• Lori
• African men tend to have greater access to
  emerging media than African women
• Exceptions Gambia, Sao Tome de Principe and Cape
  Verde
• Emerging media provide access to a variety of
  economic levers
• Marketing
• Reaching customers
• Information sharing that improves business
  offerings
• Through these channels, women have the
  opportunity to
• Increase their incomes
• Reduce dependency on men
• Increase family welfare
• Contribute to local development
• Increased communication connectedness across
  disparate communities
• Some case studies include
• Uganda farmers sharing crop prices
• South African medical SMS reminders
• Tanzanian small business owners save on travel
  time money
• Improved earnings in 62 of South African small
  businesses

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Question 3 What can women do to further promote
positive images throughout all media?

• Lori
• Women must influence the production and
  consumption of media
• Women can encourage positive images of themselves
  through new media
• Guaranteed access to affordable ICT
• ICT infrastructure and services
• ICT training
• Develop ICT-based programs that meet womens
  needs
• E.g., literacy programs, business planning
  courses, health information and services, access
  to market trading information and e-Commerce
  initiatives
• Julia
• In light of demographic changes
• Develop skills
• Create partnerships with men
• Promote positive stories about women
• Mentor women
• Diane
• Regional womens media umbrellas (e.g., African
  Womens Media Center and the Federation of
  African Media Women) have been arranged to
  promote positive images of women
• Advocate fair gender policies
• Promote a conducive regulatory environment
• Must also produce more positive programming about
  and for women

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Conclusion

• While traditional media has afforded varying
  levels of improved gender equality in its
  employment and representation of women, emerging
  media provides a beacon of hope
• Emerging media has provided greater access to
  information and services to women around the
  world
• This greater access has in turn led to increased
  economic opportunities, as well as increased
  access to critical information in such areas as
  health, education, and legislation
• Going forward, women can further promote such
  positive trends in media through a variety of
  means
• For those who work in media, promote positive
  images of women
• As consumers of media, use your time and money to
  support positive images
• As entrepreneurs, leverage emerging media
  resources to your advantage to explore new arenas
  of economic advancement
• Lastly, use these emerging platforms to educate
  inform on womens issues

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Appendix
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Top Women and Gender Headlines (AllAfrica.com,
May 2007)