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Media can turn tide on negative representation of women

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The agenda to advocate for gender-aware journalists and gender-sensitive reporting is now more urgent than ever. Picture: iStock
The agenda to advocate for gender-aware journalists and gender-sensitive reporting is now more urgent than ever. Picture: iStock

Twars and trolls on social media have become common within the South African society, including cyberbullying as a form of social media engagement that leads to harm and relational conflict. A recent example was the mergence of #SimphiweDanaMustFall.

This hashtag became a conduit for a great deal of misogynistic objectification and gender insensitive commentary which arose from the public sphere and was published by the media using conventional vehicles other than social media. This begs the question: What is the role of media in the context of the Covid-19 coronavirus, especially in relation to the protection of citizens?

What ought to be the role of media in the protection of women in general?
Tshegofatso Modubu

If it was the norm that women were objectified and bullied throughout cyberspace under normal circumstances, what was the role of media before the Covid-19 disaster? Whatever the answer, the truth is that media has in the past been used as a vehicle to transmit content that degrades and bullies women.

Perhaps the question that should be asked is: What ought to be the role of media in the protection of women in general?

Irrespective of the many opinions, a secular society that is built on a Constitution such as ours dictates that all those who live in South Africa must abide by the Constitution (including the media). This is important in the sense that notions of equality, in as far as gender is concerned, permeate throughout the Constitution, and therefore media cannot be excluded from this noble ideal.

READ: Is this sublime Simphiwe Dana’s last dance?

Regulations have to be in place to protect victims of cyberbullying in tandem with the efforts to ramp up the clamping of fake news. Currently, the various cases of persons accused of spreading fake news have been a show-and-tell that law enforcement is serious about curbing malicious disinformation. This particular objective deserves to be illuminated even further with respect to how misinformation could potentially subvert the imagery of women, which has already been tampered by all forms of online bullying.

It is the responsibility of the media to reframe its thinking around the imagery of women during the lockdown.

Firstly, there is an indication that owing to the lockdown there has been an increase in gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) cases as most victims are locked up with perpetrators. In this instance, the imagery of women and the framing thereof in the context of purported victimhood becomes important.

Various studies have indicated that media has the power to influence and foster change in public opinion and behaviour.

The existence of female voices through the media is close to none or highly negligible
Tshegofatso Modubu

A recent collaboration between international development cooperation GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), UN Women and various state and media entities under the auspices of the Step It Up for Gender Equality in SA Media has been hard at work to ensure tha, media is on board to committing to changing the narrative on GBVF.

The first step was to conduct a study on the representation of women in South African television news through Gender Links in 2018, and now the focus is on behind the scenes. The 2018 study indicated that there was a significant shift in women as decision-makers in newsrooms, however, the number of women who were sources and/or voices of commentary was still low. In other words, the existence of female voices through the media is close to none or highly negligible.

The coverage of Covid-19 with women as part of the narrative should be used as a test for South African media to do things differently. It is imperative that media takes stock of its efforts in ensuring that GBVF stigma and shame is eradicated, and that we see more gender-sensitive stories across the board during the pandemic.

Secondly, several reports have indicated that the majority of health workers are women. Therefore, there is a need for a gender lens when reporting on front-line Covid-19 staff and the impact this has on them as well as their surrounding environment.

Do newsrooms have policies that protect women who are caring for vulnerable individuals who are susceptible to severe Covid-19?
Tshegofatso Modubu

One also has to consider that female journalists are also reporting from the front-line and are putting themselves at risk as caregivers and essential workers. This again posits the role of the media in the news coverage of Covid-19.

Other questions that deserve inquiry include: What happens when women reach home after having interviewed multitudes of people who are potential carriers of Covid-19? How dot they tuck in their children or hug their loved ones and even breastfeed? Do newsrooms have policies that protect women who are caring for vulnerable individuals who are susceptible to severe Covid-19?

These questions should be asked in the context of available systems of accountability. For instance, institutions such as the Public Protector, Commission for Gender Equality (CGE), as well as the SA Human Rights Commission have been classified as essential services institutions whose mandate ought to function and be applied when any form of social injustice occurs during the lockdown. This presents an opportunity for civil society and interested parties to further engage on matters that are related to the protection of citizens, including those of women and other vulnerable groups.

The CGE already plays central role in the Step it Up for Gender Equality in SA Media by cohosting gender-sensitive workshops for community media. Of utmost importance is its approach to localising coverage of gender-based issues in various provinces and providing context of gender-sensitive reporting to journalists, taking into consideration language, cultural signs and symbols as well as nuances that can either propel or dispel GBVF and harmful cultural practices.

The agenda to advocate for gender-aware journalists and gender-sensitive reporting is now more urgent than ever

The department of women, youth and persons with disabilities has recently created an advocacy campaign utilising social media and stakeholder engagement to advocate gender sensitivity and curbing GBVF during the lockdown.

But will all these efforts by various state entities and chapter nine institutions yield results and reframe the narrative of the media to create a gender-sensitive frame? Only time will tell whether the media will consciously pay attention to the problems around the imagery of women at a time of a national disaster.

The advocacy work and agency to get the media on board with regards to gender-sensitive reporting should be accelerated as the Covid-19 lockdown may be a diversion from the original agenda. Following reporting guidelines on the gendered impacts of Covid-19 is essential. The agenda to advocate for gender-aware journalists and gender-sensitive reporting is now more urgent than ever.

Modubu is a humanities postgraduate student at the University of Pretoria


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