“Let Journalism Thrive! Towards Better Reporting, Gender Equality, and Media Safety in the Digital Age” – the theme for the 2015 world press freedom day is a strong signal for holistic action.
May 3 has been set aside to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
The international day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993, following a recommendation adopted at the 26th Session of UNESCO's General Conference in 1991. This in turn was a response to a call by African journalists who in 1991 produced the landmark Windhoek Declaration on media pluralism and independence.
Let Journalism thrive in the world of women as the international community undertakes 20-year review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action focusing on women and the media.
At the recent United Nations Commission on the Status of Women 59 session held at New York, UN Women recognized the potential that exists for the media to make a contribution to gender equality.
A report of the United Nations Secretary-General obtained by the Ghana News Agency during the CSW59 session revealed that:
  • Women’s participation, access and representation in media and Information, Communication and Technology (ICTs) has improved, however data for monitoring global and regional trends in gender dimensions of media remains limited.
  • The existing gaps in policies and regulations that govern media and ICTs as well as the persistence of negative and stereotypical portrayals of women and girls in the media, continues to pose a significant risk for women and girls to new and emerging forms of online threats and abuse.
  • Advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment through media and ICT’s requires the formulation of gender-responsive ICT and media strategies and related policies which seek to improve the relevance or representativeness of content and services.
It also called for increased investments and financial incentives from governments for investment in gender equality measures in media and ICT sectors and the establishment of monitoring mechanisms that integrate gender perspectives for increased accountability around implementation of commitments.
The UN on Women and Agenda 2030
In the light of these observations, the UN Women therefore called on states to increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in and through the media and new technologies of communication and to promote a balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media.
Data for monitoring global and regional trends in gender dimensions of media remain limited but from the perspective of Ghana Women, in fulfilling Agenda 2030, seventy per cent of heads and owners of media institutions should be women.
Nana Oye Lithur Minister of Gender Children and Social Protection articulating the Agenda 2030, said despite the limitations, the data that exist provide a snapshot of women’s participation, access and representation in media and such technologies.
The Gender Minister acknowledged that women’s participation in the media had improved considerably, though numbers are still far from equal, especially at senior levels.
She said a UN global report that contains data on women in the news media, spanning 59 countries and 522 news media organizations, found that women make up 35 per cent of the total media workforce across the world, but only hold roughly a quarter of the jobs in top management (27 per cent) and governance (26 per cent).
The UN report also reveals that in the past 16 years, the rate of employment of women in news media has more than doubled whilst in the ICT sector, women’s participation has increased, although gender gaps remain stark.
According to the UN report, in decision-making positions, women’s representation drops to between 10 per cent and 15per cent. Only 6 per cent of venture capital funding goes to ICT start-ups headed by women.
Women’s access to technology also lags behind that of men. Research on mobile phone ownership, for example, shows that despite sharp overall increases across low- and middle-income countries, a woman is still 21 per cent less likely than a man to own a mobile phone.
With respect to Internet use, estimates by the International Telecommunication Union obtained by the GNA demonstrate that, globally, 36 per cent of women and 41 per cent of men go online. However, while rates have reached near parity across developed countries, an estimated 16 per cent less women than men use the Internet in developing countries.
Despite some positive trends, however, recent research shows that technology is also being used for harmful purposes, to perpetrate online harassment and abuse, especially towards young women.
Representations of women and girls within the media as a whole (in television, film, advertising and music videos and online), on the other hand, have made limited progress.
Though the proportion of female news subjects identified, represented or portrayed as workers or professionals has risen in some occupational categories, women and girls, overall, continue to be portrayed in traditional and stereotypical manners that do not reflect their diversity, capacities and the roles that they actually maintain in life.
Women in news coverage remain low
Total representation of women in news coverage remains very low compared to that of men, with women constituting 24 per cent of the people heard or read about in print, radio and television; and only 23 per cent of those heard or read about on the internet.
The UN Women called for increasing women’s participation in media and ICT sectors such as through the direct collaboration with employers in the media to improve their internal policies and hiring practices; partnering with women’s media networks and organizations and administering creative incentives, such as providing public recognition to more gender-responsive media houses.
 It also noted that in the 21st century negative and stereotypical portrayals of women in the media and online threats and abuse must be stopped, through reforming legal, regulatory and policy frameworks, standard-setting and codes of conduct.
 Agenda 2030 advocates also called for increment in women’s access to and use of ICTs, through the creation of free wifi hubs, Internet clubs and community technology centres to expand the reach of technology to poorer communities and more remote locations as well as through initiatives to build digital literacy and skills, including within schools.
Using media as a tool to raise awareness of gender equality issues through the establishment or expansion of websites to disseminate information, increase transparency and raise awareness of gender equality, as well as utilizing mass media channels to implement awareness-raising campaigns and educational programming on women’s rights.
On the way forward, the gender advocates stressed the need for increasing women’s participation in media and ICTs at all levels of decision-making requires continued provision of formal and technical vocational education and training (TVET), including in the areas of management and leadership.
To strengthen the retention and advancement of women within the media and ICT fields, governments should ensure equal pay and decent work conditions and policies that enable the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities in addition to ensuring safe and harassment-free environments.
Preventing and addressing stereotypes and discrimination in media requires further development of national and global legislative, regulatory and voluntary mechanisms, including professional guidelines and codes of conduct.
Greater efforts are also needed to ensure women’s and girls’ equal access to and use of media and ICTs, especially in rural areas and among marginalized groups, such as through the formulation of gender-responsive ICT and media strategies and related policies which seek to improve the relevance or representativeness of content and services.