Gender-sensitive indicators for media: framework of indicators to gauge gender sensitivity in media operations and content
The aim of the Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media (GSIM) is to contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment in and through media of all forms, irrespective of the technology used. The main focus of the publication is on the equality and gender dimensions of social diversity in the media.
UNESCO’s commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment is pursued through gender-specific programming and gender mainstreaming with action in all of its fields of competence. UNESCO’s Communication and Information Sector has engaged globally in a wide range of gender-specific initiatives. The two perspectives, equality between women and men working in the media, and equality in news reporting on women and men, are of equal importance and are being stridently pursued.
It is against this backdrop that UNESCO, in cooperation with the International Federation of Journalists and many other partners, has elaborated this global framework of Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media. This is a part of a suite of indicators being developed across all sectors of the organization to enable effective assessment of diagnosis of areas within UNESCO’s mandate of media development.
The process that led to the preparation of GSIM extended over a two-year period. It began in early 2010 with a global debate on the UNESCO Women Make the News platform. A first draft of GSIM was then prepared and a year later it was reviewed during an international consultation in Brussels. Thereafter a second draft was prepared. In order to further enrich it a second round of consultation was carried out with UNESCO media partners globally. This essential consultation enabled UNESCO to underline that GSIM is not an attempt to limit freedom of expression and the independence of media, but to voluntarily enrich these cardinal characteristics.
UNESCO is confident that, if fully implemented and properly harnessed, GSIM will have an impact that should be detectable in both qualitative and quantitative terms.