BULLETIN NO. 12

Women and Media Working Group

We present some extracts from a discussion by women about women and the media held on the Internet last year. Women around the world sent news of their activities, concerns and achievements in the struggle for feminist expression in the media. Women in Guatemala, Spain, Argentina and the US are working as individuals or in groups to express gender perspective and make the feminist voice heard in the cacophony of male-dominated-consumerist-orientated hype that prevails in the mass media today.

THANKS TO:
WOMEN AND MEDIA WORKING GROUP, A COLLABORATION OF WOMENWATCH AND WOMENACTION 2000 womenmedia@sdnp.undp.org
.

GUATEMALA

My name is Laura Asturias, from Guatemala. I'm a journalist, write in a daily (Siglo veintiuno) and am co-editor of ~lacuerda~, the only feminist Publication which appears in a national newspaper. I'm also the editor of the electronic magazine *tertulia* (which means something like "chat"), the only extensive news service on women that goes out of Central America every week: more than 500 people and NGOs receive it all over Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and some parts in the USA.

Our topic is: "women and the information society:
Information and communication technologies (icts)"

In Guatemala, many women are gaining access to these technologies. But, as usual, it is primarily the most privileged. In a country with (shamefully) very high levels of illiteracy among women, it's not an easy task.
Our group, ~lacuerda~ (which is also the name of our feminist publication), has successfully promoted the creation of the women journalists' network. Its members are mostly women who never before identified themselves as feminists. Through all the activities we've had, this is changing: they're beginning to see that a gender-oriented, feminist approach to communication is vital if we are to transform the present state of women in the media. We have seen a notable change in the way these fellow journalists now report and write news.

Also, last July, together with CIMAC -a women's news agency in Mexico-, we established the Mexican, Central American and Caribbean Journalists' Network. We hope that this effort will help visibilize women's "true" lives in the media in our countries.

Concerning Guatemala, my magazine Tertulia and the electronic version of lacuerda are the only gender-oriented publications going out of this country. Tertulia has existed since November 1997 without any financial support. And it has been a very rewarding experience.

Kind regards,
Laura
Laura e. Asturias / Guatemala
Leasturias@intelnet.net.gt

SPAIN

My name is Montserrat Boix; I'm from Spain. I'm journalist in Spanish television (tve) and I am the creator of a Spanish network of women in Internet - Mujeres en Red. I invite you to visit our site (http://www.nodo50.org/mujeresred/) where you can find information about the situation of the women in the world, organized by country and a data base about different issues: women/gender, human rights, solidarity, health, coeducation, ecology, etc.
We also have an e-mail list (obtained through subscription by the Web) that reaches more than 1,000 people (mostly women), NGOs and different groups from Spain, Magreb, Latin America, Europe and the U.S.A.

Mujeres en Red is created from my personal and professional interest...

a- to investigate the possibilities of alternative communication among women in the Internet to face the difficulties that exist in traditional mass media in dealing with women/gender.
b- to create a mechanism of information exchange that allows support and solidarity in the struggles faced by women round the world.

About the access of women to Information and communication technologies (ICTS)...

I want to speak of a new element: we have spoken of the division between women who have access to the ICTS and those who do not. The experience that we are having in Spain and which I believe that would be transferable to other European countries is the one of which one third possibility exists: the one of women who could have access to the ICTS (they live in cities, they have a PC sometimes even in the house, used habitually by the husband or the children) but they unconsciously or consciously reject the use of the itcs for several reasons...

- tecnophobia. Psychological rejection to the use of the ICTS. For example, it is still extremely difficult to convince some historical feminist groups (that could contribute interesting experiences), that it is both strategic and useful to work in the networks of women in Internet
- little or null knowledge the use of the PC
- ignorance of the possibilities of the strategic use of the ICTS
- problems of language (most of information in Internet is still in English and frequently women have difficulties in understanding other languages in addition to the maternal one).

Some women's groups have already decided to use the Web as a means of information but they still have a long way to cross to discover the possibilities of creating networks.

thanks for your attention. kind regards,
Montse
Montserrat Boix
plaza del dos de mayo, 5
28004 madrid - españa
TEL. 0034.91.532.25.54
boix@nodo50.org
Mujeres en Red http://www.nodo50.org/mujeresred

UNITED STATES

My name is Jean Kilbourne and I've been doing research on the portrayal of women in the media, especially advertising, for about 30 years. I made my first film Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women in 1979, updated it in 1987 as Still Killing Us Softly and will be remaking it again next month. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I find that advertising's image of women is in many ways worse than ever -- new technology makes possible an even more inhuman standard of beauty and there is more violence and more sexualization of children than before. Even worse is the fact that advertising is playing an increasingly important role in the media, in our schools, and in politics. Nine corporations control virtually all the information we get in the U.S. -- within a few years, it will probably be two or three. This is increasingly true worldwide too, of course.

A lot of people want to know what we can do. I have an extensive resource list on my Website (www.jeankilbourne.com) that lists many organizations and other resources. I have also just published my first book, Deadly Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising. The Free Press published it about two weeks ago. There is information about it on my Website and also on www.deadlypersuasion.com. I'd welcome ideas for promotion because it is very difficult to get media attention when one is biting the hand that feeds them!
From: JKilbourne@aol.com

Argentina:

Dear Friends,

We are glad to share our experience as an NGO, the Women's Social and Political Institute. This is a multidisciplinary and pluralist group that began working in 1986 and was set up legally in 1993. Our work aims to influence politicians, legislators, local, state and federal authorities, journalists, trade unionists and women of other groups and NGOs, with the aim of introducing gender perspective in the mass media, in legislation and public policy and we emphasize the empowerment of women.
(Among other activities….)

In 1997 we took our column Con ojos de Mujer (Through a Woman's Eyes) to the nightly CVN news telecast, with help from The Global Fund for Women. This was of our most successful experiences because we editorialized the news with a gender perspective three times a week.

In 1998 we were given free space again in the channel Multicanal on the program Nuevo escenario. At the same time we had a weekly slot with a large audience, on the program "Donna" on the Women's Channel thanks to Mama Cash, The Global Fund for Women, la Red de Salud de Mujeres Latinoamericanas y del Caribe y UNIFEM.

From 1998 and up till now we have a radio program on women's human rights on Radio America, twice a week. This space was given to us for free.

Also since 1998 we have a half-hour cable TV program Ni más ni menos (Neither more nor Less) on the channel Siempre Mujer, which gave us free rights for the program and we received production money from Mama Cash, The Global Fund for Women, and UNIFEM. And we are also producing a program for Channel P&E with support from various sources: La Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, El Banco de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, la Secretaría de Salud del Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, la Universidad de Buenos Aires and several private companies.

You can find us on the Web: www.ispm.org.ar
María José Lubertino
Instituto Social y Político de la Mujer
Buenos Aires-Argentina
From: teresa nobili@abaconet.com.ar

The women and media workingroup is a collaboration of WomenWatch and WomenAction 2000