Guideline for Gender Responsive Media

"Media are indispensable instruments of communication, learning, and socialization. The media can be used to create awareness and mobilize people for social changes and, most importantly, they can be gender responsive and promote the human rights of both men and women."

This guideline is designed to ensure a gender-responsive media in Ethiopia that is able to raise awareness about gender equality in society, promote the rights of both women and men, and address stereotypes that have resulted in women's degradation and marginalisation. In particular, it seeks to support the creation of gender-sensitive environments within media houses and in the content they produce. The guideline is designed to be used by media houses, journalists, and various stakeholders, including broadcast programme owners, managers, editors, associations of media and journalists, media self-regulatory bodies, training institutions, community media, and organisations that work on gender and communication.

The publication is part of the Enhancing the Role of Media in Promoting Gender Equality and Women in Leadership project, which was developed by the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority (EBA) in collaboration with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women). The project sought to harness the capacity of the media in promoting a more positive portrayal of women, particularly women in leadership and decision making positions. The project does this by working to enhance the capacity of media personnel (in both print and broadcast media) on gender-responsive reporting, build their gender knowledge, and equip them with the skills to ensure they proactively promote the positive portrayal of women leaders and seek stories of such a nature.

As explained in the guide, "The examination of gender and media has three dimensions; the first one is the balanced representation of gender in media houses as professionals; which is related to the proportion of men and women employed in the media, the type of assignments they are given, the role women have in decision making, and opportunities given for men and women professionals. The second one is the politics of gender representation in media contents which relates to the portrayal of women and men, their reported role as active participants or passive observers, low or high-profile sources, their attribution as offenders or survivors, and their representation in the news and current affairs or in the other soft news. The third one is equal access to media contents both for men and women; which greatly affects the balanced distribution and exposure of media contents to both genders (Gallagher, 1976)."

The guideline addresses two of the above dimensions: the editorial policies of media houses and media contents. Research conducted by the project (available in the Annexes) indicates that editorial policies that addressed gender in both state-owned and private media showed significant gaps. In addition, research into media contents revealed that in print, web, and broadcast media contents in both private and state-owned media houses, almost all content underrepresented women as a source of news and as active subjects. The guideline sets out nine essential principles to address this. These principles are designed to serve as go-to material that can be used to check whether reports/media products observe the guidelines of gender-responsive reporting. They can be referred to during all phases of content production in all the departments of a media outlet, which include research, content production, interviews, and editorial (visuals included) departments.

The nine principles are supported by recommended actions, as well as tips to consider. The actions are accompanied by examples to further explain what actions can be taken. The actions can also be used as a form of checklist to check whether or not a report/story/production is adhering to each principle. The nine principles are:

• Principle 1: Understand Gender as a Social Relation
• Principle 2: Recognise the Equality of Women and Men
• Principle 3: Women's Rights are Human Rights
• Principle 4: Mind Your Language
• Principle 5: Report Gender-Based Violence Ethically
• Principle 6: Ask Her(too)
• Principle 7: Mainstream Gender Issues
• Principle 8: Avoid Objectifying and Stereotypical of Women in Representation, Visual Images and Sound Effects
• Principle 9: Look Beyond Gender Inclusivity

The Annexes include a glossary of key terms, as well as research results and data on the representation of women in Ethiopian news, an exploration of editorial policies in media houses, and an analysis of media content in Ethiopia.