Global Study: Gender Equality and Media Regulation

"Only in a society where there is a plurality of voices that participate in an accessible and dynamic public sphere is there room for the development and improvement of democracy."

This report, initiated by Fojo Media Institute, seeks to interrogate how media regulators worldwide have approached the mandate to promote and protect gender equality and women's freedom of expression (FoE) while attending to obligations to uphold media freedom. It offers a global overview of legislation and policies, with more in-depth studies of five Fojo partner countries: Armenia, Bangladesh, Rwanda, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. It also includes good practice examples and recommendations on how to achieve better gender equality and safety for journalists.

As explained in the report, "Over the years, it has become evident that freedom of expression and gender equality are linked. They are both fundamental for the development of democratic societies. Currently, we see both threats and gains concerning free speech and gender equality. There is a lack of knowledge on what has been done and what measures might work to safeguard freedom of expression and gender equality. While western countries have more extensive mapping and monitoring, such information is still missing in many Global South nations." This report seeks to fill this gap and is the first mapping by Fojo on gender and FoE. Its main components include:

• Chapter 1 offers a brief overview of existing policy and legal frameworks related to gender and media, based on a mapping of over 100 countries, and includes existing self-regulatory bodies in the media industry of these countries. The mapping seeks to reveal the extent to which the various bodies have a mandate to address gender equality issues in media and communication regulation, as well as media and communication issues in gender equality regulation.
• Chapter 2 presents an analysis of the interaction between the right to FoE, gender equality, and media regulation. It shows the scope and obligations derived from the protection of gender equality and FoE as human rights by international and regional systems and assesses how such supranational principles inspire national legal systems, particularly when it comes to media regulation.
• Chapter 3 showcases good practice examples in gender and media regulation approaches and measures that have yielded the desired outcomes to advance gender equality in and through media. Illustrations of good practices are categorised by: national authorities; industry self-regulation bodies and media women networks; media regulation bodies (national and regional); and media organisations and media agencies.
• The final chapter offers conclusions and recommendations.

The following are some of the key findings and conclusions emerging from the research:

• The level of gender equality in the media is to some extent linked to gender equality in the society as a whole - specifically, gender equality legislation and gender awareness in general within societies.
• There is a gap between policy and practice regarding gender equality and FoE. Even when legislation and agreed policies exist (on a global, regional, or national level), they are not necessarily followed in practice.
• In media legal frameworks where gender equality is referred to, the focus is most often on women's representation in media content, particularly when it comes to combatting or avoiding sexist prejudices and stereotypes. Proper and proportionate provisions might be considered in this area, provided they do not interfere with media freedom in the right to FoE.
• Gendered disinformation is a form of harmful speech that can negatively affect gender equality and endanger public policies and the proper application of legislation in this field. However, restrictive measures would not be acceptable as remedies. The most powerful antidotes to gendered disinformation are gender-sensitive journalism and a well-informed and digitally literate population.
• There is not one way or a quick-fix solution, but a combination of media regulation and self-regulation by the media industry appears to be a promising way forward.
• There is a lack of comparative sex-disaggregated data on the media, which hampers the possibility to map and compare conditions in various countries.
• Obtaining an overview of the status of FoE and gender equality in the media is a complex process due to the dearth of key information.
• Freedom of information is still lacking, and access to official documents is crucial for further research and for the possibility for journalists to scrutinise power.

Based on the findings, the report offers the following overall recommendations (a detailed list of recommendations for the different levels of actors is also provided):

• Media regulators should ensure that consistent and comparable sex-disaggregated data on the media (related to gender equality in content and organisation) are collected.
• Gender provisions should be included in media and communication policies to protect communication rights of women and gender minorities.
• In view of media's centrality for gender equality, media-related provisions should be integrated in national gender policies and strategies.
• Media regulators should include gender provisions in regulations regarding broadcasting licensing, which could include conditions for approval and continued tenure of licenses.
• Several content moderation policies established by online platforms may be used to curtail women's FoE. Normative interventions should be made by national, regional, and supranational institutions to balance the self-regulation-only measures present today on online platforms.

An annex in the report features summaries of country case studies from Bangladesh, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and Sweden, which include general recommendations for each country.

Click here for the online version of the report.