The Global Alliance for Media and Gender (GAMAG) has announced that proposals related to media and ICT have been included in the "Agreed Conclusions" of the 62nd United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), held at the UN Headquarters in New York, March 12-23.
IAMCR has been a key member of GAMAG since its creation in 2013 and IAMCR Vice President, Aimée Vega Montiel, currently serves as GAMAG’s Interim Chair. IAMCR’s Task Force for GAMAG was actively involved at CSW, assisting with the preparation of position papers and other activities which influenced the debates.
Six recommendations related to women and media and/or ICT were approved by member states as part of this year’s agenda for the CSW, which had a its review theme: "Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls." The proposals addressed issues related to the "digital divide", including developing policies and strategies that promote rural women’s and girls' participation in and access to media, information, and communication technologies (ICTs).
Another "Agreed Conclusion" recognized the important role of media in achieving gender equality, including "non-discriminatory and gender-sensitive coverage" and the elimination of gender stereotypes in media. The proposal also includes the encouragement of media training and the promotion of regulations to promote balanced portrayals of women and girls.
GAMAG prepared these proposals and they were formally presented by the Mexican delegation.
A written statement was prepared by IAMCR’s Task Force on GAMAG, approved by CSW, and published on the official CSW website. GAMAG also lobbied national delegations and UN agencies and was able to co-convene three side events during the meetings, working with UNESCO, WACC (World Association for Christian Communication), and the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP). GAMAG organizations from the South and North organized five parallel events with their national and regional NGO committees. GAMAG also prepared a Pre-CSW forum with the Mexican Government in February.
More information about GAMAG events at CSW can be found here: http://gamag.net/events/list/?tribe_paged=1&tribe_event_display=past
The statement approved by the UN Commission on the Status of Women can be found here: http://undocs.org/E/CN.6/2018/NGO/155
The full document of "Agreed Conclusions" can be found here: https://www.ngocsw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CSW62-Agreed-Conclusi…