How Gender-related issues are Reported?

Globally women are dramatically underrepresented in the news, and are unlikely to be the central figure. Many stories miss opportunities to:
explore how issues affect men and women differently and the language and images used frequently
reinforce gender stereotypes in subtle ways.
Women are more than twice as likely as men to be portrayed as victims – perpetuating a stereotype of female weakness.
Topics that specifically affect women – such as sexual and domestic violence and cultural practices that are harmful for women – are given little coverage. Gender based violence only accounts for 1% of total
stories globally. And even in stories about issues that affect women profoundly such as gender-based
violence, it is the male voice (64% of news subjects) that dominates. News reporting on gender
(in)equality is virtually non-existent, with only 4% of stories highlighting equality issues, such as
differences in pay or in access to education or jobs.

When thinking about how the media covers gender in education it is important to consider two
closely related things:

1 How much and what type of coverage does the media give to gender issues in education (For
example sexual harassment of girls in school)

2 How is gender addressed? For example, if we are told a story about numbers of children out of school, are we told how many are girls and how many boys or about how boys and girls are affected?
Media coverage of education

Why is gender often not adequately addressed?

It is clear that gender is often inadequately addressed in education reporting, both through a lack of
attention to gender issues, and a lack of gender sensitivity and gender analysis in general. This is due
to a combination of factors, which include:
Lack of gender sensitivity and awareness among journalists and editors
Lack of support from media owners and managers
Lack of policy or guidelines on gender reporting
Shortage of women in senior positions in media houses
Negative attitudes towards gender-based stories
Lack of sympathy with gender equality
Fear of religious misinterpretation

The media can play a very important role in shaping how the general public, teachers, parents, NGOs and politicians and policy makers perceive and understand issues. Gender insensitive or gender blind media reporting plays a role in reproducing gender stereotypes and inequalities. On the other hand, media coverage
that is gender sensitive can play a positive role in helping to transform these inequalities. It can do this
by drawing attention to the way in which policies or practices often discriminate against girls or
women and by promoting positive changes to help change these.

What can be done?
Having a clear understanding of how the media currently reports on education, and how gender is
addressed within this reporting is an important first step to enable activists to work with the media on
education and gender issues and support them to give more, and more gender sensitive coverage of
gender and education issues. This will require being able to explain the meaning of gender clearly,
avoiding jargon. It will also require developing strategies of how to work with the media, in order to
increase media interest in the issues, and sensitise media personnel so that they are able to address
gender issues in education and promote gender sensitive reporting.