Episcopal Church and the United Nations

Women and the Media

October 30, 2020
Episcopal UN

By: Yunjeong Seol, Diocese of New York (Province II)

How many women reporters do you see in the media? How many women in the digital space experienced harassment? Are women viewed and treated as God’s image that are worthy of dignity in the media?

(The answers are here. Globally, only 1 in 3 reporters is a woman. In the European Union (EU), 1 in 10 women report having experienced cyber-harassment since the age of 15. Among adolescents and youth ages 18 to 20 this share is as high as 1 in 5. The answer to the last question is, No, Not yet, we are working on it!)

The snapshot is taken from Gender equality: Women’s rights in review 25 years after Beijing. (Quick tip: UN Women has a lot of reports and sometimes, it is a little overwhelming to navigate. If you are like me, search for infographics like this.) This report has beautiful infographics giving you the striking data to examine six themes that link the Platform’s critical areas of concern and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the Sustainable Development Goals (so called SDGs. If you have been following the blog post, you are already familiar with this SDGs. If you need another good snapshot on SDGs and how the progress has been made and interrupted as a result of COVID-19? Here is the link for you.).

In this blog post, I would like to give some snapshots on Women and the Media. (Link is for UNWomen official Women and the Media site) I will start with review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action on Women and the Media from the year 1995. (If you are really into the UN official report, here is the link for the 108 page report.) Here are some excerpts from the report. Underline and highlight, bold font is my highlight. (If you want a quick summary, just read bold, underline and highlight. You will get the idea. But, hearing stories and facts are very important. So I also highlighted green for the key facts we had in infographics.) Then, I will end with my personal epiphany story on women’s representation. 

Report of the Secretary-General on Women and the Media

137. The persistence of gender stereotypes and negative portrayals of women in the media (critical area of concern 1) have been identified as a factor contributing to violence against women and girls and gender inequality more broadly. Ensuring women and girls are free from violence, discrimination, stigma and stereotypes is essential to achieving substantive equality, but also crucial to the achievement of several of the Sustainable Development Goals, such as poverty eradication (Goal 1)health (Goal 3)education (Goal 4) and decent work (Goal 8). Tackling violence against women also contributes to creating more peaceful and non-violent communities for all (Goal 16), given that violence against women is one of the strongest predictors of the eruption of conflict in a country. The Platform for Action provides key policy guidance on how to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and on ensuring a balanced portrayal of women in the media.

Rapid changes in technology and media are creating new spaces for the perpetration of violence against women and girls. 

149. Rapid advances in technology, with their wide reach and accessibility, provide another avenue for violence against women, offline and online. Mobile phones and the Internet are used for online trolling or harassment of women, trafficking of women and children, cyberstalking, violations of privacy, censorship and the hacking of email accounts, phones and other electronic devices, and increased targeting of women human rights defenders and other women in political and public life. Global data is not available; however, a regional study has found that 1 in 10 women in the European Union report having experienced cyberharassment since the age of 15 (including having received unwanted, offensive and sexually explicit emails or SMS messages, or offensive, inappropriate advances on social networking sites). The risk is highest among young women between 18 and 29 years of age.2 Technology is also increasingly used to facilitate human trafficking.3 

150. Among other factors, stereotypes and the significant underrepresentation of women in the media play a significant role in shaping harmful attitudes of disrespect and violence towards women. In 2015, women made up only 24 percent of the persons heard, read about or seen in newspaper, television and radio news, as had been the case in 2010.4 Despite the democratizing promise of digital media, women’s poor representation in traditional news media is also reflected in digital news, with women making up only 26 percent of the people in Internet news stories and media news tweets.5 Only 4 percent of traditional news and digital news stories clearly challenge gender stereotypes.

Action taken by States to implement the Platform for Action 

151. Based on the national reports, policy and programmatic trends in implementation emerged in four areas: (a) strengthening and enforcing of laws that address violence against women and ensuring women’s access to justice; (b) increasing women’s access to support services; (c) preventing violence against women and girls; and (d) recognizing the impact of technology and media on violence against women and gender stereotypes. 

152. National action plans continue to be the overarching framework for most countries in their efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls. Globally, 68 percent of States reported that they had introduced, updated or expanded national action plans on ending violence against women and girls in the past five years. Efforts were fairly consistent across all regions. A positive development is the increasing focus of national action plans on addressing violence experienced by diverse groups of women and girls. However, inadequate funding, implementation and monitoring make it difficult to translate plans into results. 

165. Globally, 67 percent of States reported that they had introduced or strengthened strategies to prevent violence against women and girls. There was significant regional variation in the attention given to prevention. Public awareness campaigns to change attitudes constituted the most common form of action (89 percent of States), followed by initiatives in primary and secondary education, including comprehensive sexuality education (58 percent), grassroots and community-level mobilization (52 percent), working with men and boys (48 percent), perpetrator programmes (40 percent) and changing the way women and girls are represented in the media (35 percent). 

(d) Impact of technology and media on violence against women and gender stereotypes 

169. Addressing online and ICT-facilitated violence against women and girls requires national legislative, regulatory and policy measures. Sixty-four percent of States reported that they had engaged in awareness-raising initiatives directed at the general public and young people in educational settings; 62 percent reported having introduced or strengthened legislation and regulatory provisions; and 26 percent reported having worked with technology providers to set and adhere to good business practices. States reported that they had introduced new laws on cyber and electronic violence and harassment and criminal penalties for capturing and sharing sexual images without consent and online interactions with minors; they had also established legal clinics, telephone hotlines and online help portals for victims and implemented awareness-raising programmes, in particular for children and young people, to increase knowledge of the risks and dangers of technology. 

170. States provided limited information on how they are working with or regulating technology providers to hold them accountable for keeping women safe online. Technology and ICT providers should be required to uphold women’s human rights by conducting due diligence and applying all core international human rights and women’s rights standards to their platforms and providing women with fast and effective remedies. 

171. The pervasiveness of gender stereotypes and discrimination in the media remains a particular challenge. The media can help to shift understanding of and norms regarding violence against women and girls and to promote positive norms in support of gender equality. 

172. Addressing the portrayal of women and girls, discrimination and gender bias in the media has not been prioritized to the same extent as other aspects of the Platform for Action. Some 49 percent of States have provided training to media professionals to encourage the creation and use of non-stereotypical, balanced and diverse images of women and girls; 45 percent have promoted the participation and leadership of women in the media; 35 percent have enacted, strengthened and enforced legal reforms to combat discrimination or gender bias in the media or introduced bind ing regulations for them, including with regard to advertising; 34 percent have supported the media industry to develop voluntary codes of conduct; and 21 percent have established or strengthened consumer protection services to receive and review complaints about media content or gender-based discrimination and bias in the media. Some States have begun to introduce standards and practices on the reporting of violence against women and girls in the media to challenge harmful myths and stereotypes. 

173. Efforts to engage the media to address stereotypical representations and report responsibly on violence against women have been focused on training for journalists. More needs to be done to standardize media practices and establishing regulatory mechanisms to ensure consistency and accountability. Standards and practices should also be applicable to online and social media.

175. To ensure women’s freedom from violence and stigma, action is urgently needed in three areas. First, States should ensure that perpetrators are held accountable and prioritize services for women and girls, with specific attention to the long-term needs of survivors, such as housing, education and employment. Ensuring that women have access to justice is critical. Second, a comprehensive, evidence-based and long-term approach to prevention is needed, using multiple avenues to transform social norms and unequal power relations between women and men. Lastly, States should uphold due diligence principles to ensure that media and technology do not facilitate violence against women or perpetuate harmful and stereotypical portrayals of women and girls.

186. In the media, only one in four decision makers, one in three reporters and one in five experts interviewed globally is a woman.6 Women also remain largely underrepresented as sources and protagonists of media stories.7

214. Ensuring the equal participation of women in the media is critical for properly reflecting their perspectives, shaping public debate and holding decision makers to account. Twenty-three per cent of States reported that they had provided support to women’s media networks and organizations. Ensuring the rights of women journalists and press freedom is critical to the implementation of the Platform for Action. These forms of media are crucial to amplify the voices of different groups of women, including those belonging to vulnerable or excluded groups. A worrying trend is the growing frequency of threats, intimidation and harassment directed at women journalists in traditional and social media.8

Actions to accelerate implementation of the Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda

Freedom from violence, stigma and stereotypes

Uphold due diligence principles to ensure that media and technology do not facilitate violence against women or perpetuate harmful and stereotypical portrayals of women and girls.

Transform social norms to create cultures of non-violence, respect and equality

333. States should: prioritize change in discriminatory social norms and gender stereotypes to unlock progress in all areas, including by supporting community based women’s rights organizations; fully engage men and boys in challenging those norms as allies in achieving gender equality; ensure that changes in norms and stereotypes are integrated into education systems; promote positive norms in support of gender equality through the media; and regulate the media and technology providers to ensure that they do not promote harmful stereotypes and social norms.

These highlights feature how to end gender-based violence and urge us to action. I also want to spotlight the deterioration on Digital Gender Divide during COVID-19.

The digital gender divide

Digital technologies have been a boon during the COVID-19 crisis. They have facilitated business continuity in some sectors and connected people through social media, which helps them maintain good mental health. Yet it is estimated that almost half the world’s population — 3.6 billion people — remains offline, the majority of them in the least developed countries.9 In Bangladesh and Pakistan, for example, rapid assessment surveys show a clear gender divide in access to technology and information: women and girls are less likely than men to own a cellphone, and they have less access to the Internet. Women also reported having less access to information about how to prevent COVID-19.10 From SPOTLIGHT ON GENDER, COVID-19 AND THE SDGS

Representation matters. 

For a long time in the Christian church, women were not allowed to present Christ as a priest. In the Episcopal Church, that changed in 1974. On July 29, 1974, three bishops, claiming that “obedience to the Spirit” justified their action, ordained eleven women deacons to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. They are called the Philadelphia Eleven. From 1974 to 2019, the Episcopal church ordained women but still only 38% female clergy and 69% of part-time priests are female. Among bishops, 20.6% are female.11 (If you want to learn more, here is the Interactive timeline of the history of women’s ordination.

Without female clergy, I would never have imagined myself as Episcopalian or pursuing ordination in the Episcopal Church. I vividly remember six women at the altar were all women at the 6pm Eucharist. The preacher, deacon, celebrant, verger, sacristan, chalice bearer were all women. Nobody seemed to be surprised, except me. I had never seen an all women altar party before. I was kneeling at the altar rail, opening up my palm for my spiritual food. For the first time, I imagined myself at the altar blessing and giving the food, not just receiving them. It was a long journey from the “no woman at the altar” to putting myself into the picture. Even today, whenever I prepare the credence table and work near the altar as a sacristan, I remember the epiphany moment at Trinity Church at Copley Square.

Can we have more epiphany moments for women in the Media? Yes. We can. We will continue to walk together with obedience to the Spirit who gives us true freedom.

1UN-Women, Preventing Conflict, Transforming Justice, Securing the Peace: A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (New York, 2015).  

2European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Violence against Women

3Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons, “Human trafficking and technology: trends, challenges and opportunities”, Issue Brief, No. 07 (2019).

4Sarah Macharia, Who Makes the News? 2015 Global Report (Toronto, World Association for Christian Communication and others, 2015).

5Sarah Macharia, Who Makes the News? 2015 Global Report (Toronto, World Association for Christian Communication and others, 2015).

6UNESCO, World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development: Global Report 2017/2018 (2018).

7UNESCO, World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development: Global Report 2017/2018 (2018).

8Alana Barton and Hannah Storm, Violence and Harassment against Women in the News Media: a Global Picture (International Women’s Media Foundation and International News Safety Institute, 2018).

9International Telecommunication Union 5 November 2019.

10UN Women 29 April 2020.

11Women are joining the House of Bishops at unprecedented rate

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About the author: Born and raised in South Korea, Yunjeong has spent many years in both Korea and the United States working with underrepresented communities who have historically been labelled “forgotten.” She has participated in a number of programs, such as the Pilgrimage Church of Seoul, that reach out to people impacted by racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of prejudice to show that they are not truly forgotten, and in doing so, to help people reclaim their dignity. We cannot call ourselves a church of all people while excluding those most in need of our love. She currently resides in New York where she is working with multiple parishes to enrich Asian/American spirituality and faith.

Contact:
Ms. Lynnaia Main

Episcopal Church Representative to the United Nations

EpiscopalUN@episcopalchurch.org