- Consulting on communication messages on gender equality in 2023
- Launching a national communication campaign on gender equality and violence prevention
Ambassadors and international experts attended the seminar.
The event was organized by the Women Journalists Club of the Vietnam Journalists Association, in collaboration with the G4 group including the embassies of Canada, Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The discussion is a space for journalists and gender and journalism experts in Vietnam and internationally to share knowledge, experience and perspectives on gender and journalism.
In his welcoming speech at the seminar, Mr. Patrick Haverman, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in Vietnam, said: Gender equality is not only a basic human right, but also plays an important role in the sustainable development of the country. To achieve gender equality goals, the role of the press is indispensable. In particular, journalists contribute to raising public awareness of gender equality, changing gender stereotypes, and promoting changes in social awareness of gender equality.
However, according to Mr. Patrick Haverman, when working on gender issues, journalists also need to be careful, adhere to ethical principles, in which, prioritize the safety and privacy of the subjects mentioned, especially avoid blaming the victims. The words and images used by journalists can shape the progress of gender equality and vice versa. Therefore, press agencies and journalists also need to be oriented and improve their propaganda skills on gender.
At the seminar, Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam Hide Solbakken emphasized that gender equality is a human right and has been mentioned in the United Nations' agenda on sustainable development. She mentioned the power of the press, including shaping readers' perspectives on issues, including gender equality.
The Norwegian Ambassador pointed out that when it comes to the appearance of women in the press, the content that is often mentioned the most is the appearance and clothing of the female politician, while this is not something that is often mentioned in articles about male politicians.
“The depiction of clothing and appearance is a gender stereotype that we often reinforce and it leads to gender-based violence. All these gender stereotypes are rooted in societal ideas about gender inequality. Therefore, the experiences and lessons that journalists shared today in reporting on gender-based violence, raising awareness and gender sensitivity will contribute to the press using its power to promote gender equality,” the Norwegian Ambassador said.
Ms. Vu Huong Thuy, Deputy Head of the Domestic News Department (Vietnam News Agency) said that each year, the Domestic News Editorial Board of VNA publishes more than 1,000 articles related to gender equality and gender-based violence prevention, focusing on the following contents: Communicating policies and laws on gender equality; Reflecting the participation of all levels, sectors and society in implementing gender equality and preventing gender-based violence; Vietnam's achievements in implementing gender equality; Activities contributing to the fight against gender-based violence. According to Ms. Thuy, in order for the propaganda work on gender equality and gender-based violence prevention to be effective, agencies, organizations and localities need to create conditions for press agencies to participate in the policy-making process; and to have the fastest access to official and authoritative sources of information related to gender equality and gender-based violence prevention.
International delegates, gender experts and journalists attended the Dialogue.
According to the study "Women and Journalism in Vietnam" conducted by the Swedish Journalism Training Institute (FOJO) in 2018, sexual harassment against journalists is high, with over 27% of female reporters surveyed reporting having been sexually harassed.
Representative of Hanoi's press, Ms. Tran Hoang Lan, Head of Family-Topics, Law, Capital Women's Newspaper, said that as a press, Capital Women's Newspaper is also subject to gender prejudice from society when it is thought that the newspaper is only interested in issues such as "mother-in-law-daughter-in-law relationship", "bedroom matters", "husband and wife feelings"... This has hindered the scope of activities and topics of reporters. In addition, when reporters report and write articles about cases related to violence and abuse against women, some female victims refuse and cover up for the perpetrators due to psychological barriers or lack of legal knowledge. Meanwhile, many men are prejudiced that the Capital Women's Newspaper only reflects women's issues, not related to men, so accessing information and interviewing men also face many difficulties. Therefore, newspaper articles have not been effective and have not yet reached men, who are an important force in implementing gender equality.
Representatives of the Capital Women's Newspaper made a number of recommendations such as the need to combat discrimination against reporters working in newspapers; the need for greater openness in providing, accessing and exploiting information for reporters in the press; the need for greater attention to resources and human resources for the press and the need to raise gender awareness for all genders; and the need to properly assess the role and importance of the press.
Delegates attending the Seminar.
At the event, Dr. Minelle Mahtani - University of British Columbia, Canada emphasized: "Journalists are the voice of the voiceless". Therefore, journalists need to have knowledge about gender, be very careful when reporting on gender to attract the attention of gender as well as have an approach to ensure integrity, generosity and caution. An article when talking about women "must talk about the nature of women instead of the appearance of that woman", she noted.
“Gender sensitivity is extremely important when reporting on gender,” says Dr. Minelle Mahtani, adding that “it is the job of journalists to promote women’s voices, because women’s voices are often not heard.”
In her closing remarks at the seminar, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Women Journalists Club Pham Thi My affirmed that the workshop had created an open space for journalists and experts on gender and journalism to share knowledge, experience and perspectives on gender and journalism, thereby contributing to promoting gender equality in Vietnam. Ms. My believes that in the coming time, the Vietnam Women Journalists Club will have many other useful activities for female journalists to create a common voice to contribute to the sustainable development of the community.
Source link
Comment (0)