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GUIDELINES TO PROTECT WOMEN AGAINST DISCRIMINATION IN MEDIA & FILMS

l. Introduction Pursuant to the policyof the Stateto promote womenempowerment, the portrayal of the rolesof womenand men in mediamustbe gendersensitive. lt will helpeliminate the stereotyping of rolesof womenand menin society thathampers women empowerment. Consequently, theseguidelines aredevised andshallserve as a basis on howroles ofwomen should beportrayed in media respecting & films. While the self-regulation of the media, theseguidelines women seekto protect against discrimination in mediaportrayal as wellas the rights of women - publication, workers in the media.Everymediaenterprise broadcast and advertising agency is mandated by lawto review and revise their codesand policies to include the provisions of Republic Act No. 9710 otheruvise knownas the MagnaCartaof Women.
ll. Applicabilitv Theseguidelines are applicable, but not limitedto the following:

1. Reporters 2. Editors

3. Publishers 4. Columnists 5. Cartoonists 6. Photographers ,; stations 7. Broadcasting hostsandanchors 8. Program managers 9. Program 10.Film-makers 11.Directors 12.Scriptwriters 13.Producers 14.Block timers 15.Researchers 16.Advertisers Relations Officers 17.Public 18.Copywriters 19.Bloggers Providers and Content 20.Websites of the Guidelines lll. Obiectives 1, 2. gender and promote womenagainstdiscrimination To protect equality; positive of women images develop To help mediapractitioners anddiscrimination; stereotypes andmenandeliminate

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practitioners Toencourage media to usegendersensitive language and images in print, photos,television and radio programs, advertisements andfilms;and To increase consciousness of people in the mediaindustry to the problems related to thenegative portrayalof or inequitable women andmen.

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lV. Definitionof Terms Thefollowing definition of termsis based (lPS) on the InterPress Service Gender and Development Glossary: Discrimination The Inter PressServicedefinesdiscrimination as - the difference in the treatment of a person on a basisotherthanindividual merit. Derived from the Latinterm "discriminate" (to divide,separate, it distinguish), refers prejudice to actionbasedon against age,physical abilities, class, ethnicity, sex,raceor religion. The Magna Carta of Women based on the Women's Gonvention defines discrimination against women as any gender-based distinction, exclusion or restriction whichhas the effector purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women,

of man and status,on a basisof equality irrespective of their marital in the political, freedoms women,of humanrightsand fundamental civilor anyotherfield. cultural, social, economic, that are malesand females between Gender- refersto the differences over time and have wide variations changeable constructed, socially cultures. within andbetween tasks behaviors, Gender Roles - refersto the sociallydetermined perceived socially women based on for men and and responsibilities on their think,actandfeelbased howtheyshould thatdefine differences sex. respective - refersto the abilityto understand and consider GenderSensitivity discrimination, factors underlyinggender-based the socio-cultural or opportunities, behaviors of menandwomenintocertain socialization needs, power as wellas thedifferent menandwomen, relations between problems thattheyhave. to resources and levelsof access Non-sexist language - also commonlyknown as gender-neutral it is the gender-inclusive language, or gender neutrality, language, the gender regarding assumptions language usethataimsat minimizing wordssuch replacing thismayinclude Forexample, referents. of human as mankindand sfewardesswith terms such as humanity and flight attendant.

- refersto the assumption Stereotypelmages/ Sex-Role Stereotyping thatcertain waysof behaving, traits, interacting working, withothers, etc., are'naturally'associated witheachsex. lt is seenas inappropriate forone plays sexto actin a manner associated withtheothersex. Representation a key rolein shaping whatbecomes socialreality..Sex rolestereotypes conveymessages aboutexpected appearance and behavior of women men, and shaping bothour ideas andexpectations and men. of women
V. Leoal Mandates

A. 1987Philippine Gonstitution Section 14,Article ||1,provides thattheStaterecognizes theroleof women in nationbuilding, and shallensure the fundamental equality before the lawof women and men. Section 24, Articlel12, recognizes the vital role of communication and information in nation-building. provides Section 4, Article 3 of the 1987Philippine Constitution, that,"No lawshallbe passed abridging thefreedom of speech, or of of expression the press, or the rightof the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.

Declarationof Principlesand State Policies,1987 Phil. Cons. rbid2.

and the rightcan be subjectto is not absolute of Expression Freedom to the of the Statein orderthatit maynot be injurious someregulations equalrightof others3. Cartaof Women: knownas Magna otherwise No.9710 B. RepublicAct of Women Portrayal andNon-derogatory 16 "Non-discriminatory Section provides that,"TheState oftheRepublicAct Chapter4 in Media andFilm", of women policies for the advancement and programs shallformulate media-related government nongovernment and with in collaboration of to raisethe consciousness endeavor lt shalllikewise organizations. public of womenand the role in recognizing the dignity thegeneral and the society of womenin the family,community, and contribution useof massmedia." the strategic through DecreeNo. 442- as amendedothelwiseknown as C. Presidential the LaborCodeof the Philippines the basicpolicyof declares Provisions Article3 of Chapter1 General full "The protection labor,promote to shall afford State the stateas race sex, of regardless ensureequalwork opportunities employment, The and employers. workers between the relations or creedand regulate collective self-organization, workers to rights of the shall assure State of work'" conditions andjustandhumane of tenure, security bargaining,

Law, Principlesand Cases Vol.1 by H .De Leon, 1999 PhilippineConstitutional

D. INTERNATIONAL LAWS 1. Conventionon the Eliminationof All Forms of Discrimination againstWomen(CEDAW) The Convention was adoptedin 1979by the UnitedNations General (andratified Assembly by the Philippines in 1981). lt is a humanright6 treatythat laysdowngovernmental obligations on matters related to any form of discrimination against womenin termsof individual rightand freedom. The Convention aims at equalitybetweenmen and womenthrough the assurance of equalaccess to and equalopportunities in publiclife, education, health, employment. lt isthefirsttreaty harmful thattargets practices cultural and traditional thatshapegender roles.Countries that haveratified the Convention arelegally bound to implement itsprovisions andsubmit reports at least every fouryears. 2. BeijingConference The UnitedNationsFourthWorldConference on Womenheld in the Chinesecapitalin 1995 produced a declaration of the international community's commitment to theadvancement of women anda platform of provided action thatsetout measures for action by 2000. Theconference a clearcommitment that the protection and promotion of the rightsof women andgirl-children area keypartof universal human rights.

Vl- GeneralGuidelines

A. Rights of Women in in theirportrayal should be considered of women rights Thefollowing media: planning, organization, in policyformulation, 1. Right to participate of all and evaluation monitoring management, implementation, projects programs, andservices; 2. Rightto be freefromall formsof violence; gender,age, 3. Right to be free from multiplebarriers- ethnicity, political, or other religion, race, color, language, sexualorientation, property, origin,disability, or geographical social, national, opinion, - to standards by humanrights as established birth,or otherstatus andadvancement; theirempowerment calamities, and securityin times of disasters, 4. Rightto protection situations; andothercrisis militarization, armed conflict, arts life,indigenous and enjoythe cultural 5. Rightto freelyparticipate of the community; andtraditions scientific, ofeducational, inthebenefits to andshare 6. Right to contribute
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economic, andcultural advancement; i

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7. Right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion andbelief; and a. Right to non-discrimination. B. WomenEmpowerment Women Empowerment refers totheprovision, availability, andaccessibility of opportunities, services, andobservance of human rights whichenable women participate to actively and contribute to the political, economic, social, andcultural development of thenation as wellas those whichshall provide themequalaccessto ownership, management, and control of production, and of material and informational resources and benefits in thefamily, community, andsociet/ Therearefivecomponents in Women's Empowerment: 1. 2. 3. 4. Women's senseof self-worth; Theirright to haveandto determine choices; Theirrightto haveaccess to opportunities and resources; Theirright to havethepower to control theirownlives, bothwithin and outside the home; and S. Theirability to influence the direction of socialchange to createa just,social more andeconomic order, nationally andinternationally.s
4 5 Section4(a), Chapter 2 of RA 9710. IPS Gender and DevelopmentGlossary

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C. Roleof Media 1. To provide truthful and informativestories, reports, programs, and of the public; andfilmsfor the benefit advertisements to its social 2. To develop industryawarenessand commitment of values. the promotion including responsibilities, Vll. SpecificGuidelines A. PortrayalofWomen withdignity; and represented be portrayed should 1. Women in a wide rangeof rolesboth be portrayed 2. Womenand men should and leisure paid family work, social, in and non-traditional, traditional activities; and providers makers as decision alsobe portrayed 3. Womenshould of thefamily; intheacademe, contributors assignificant beportrayed should 4. Women fields; andreligious cultural socio-political, business, portray and filmsshould programs, advertisements, reports, 5. Stories, structures; in familY diversity
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programs, 6 . Stories, reports, advertisements, and films aboutfamily planning, reproductive rights, welfare, healthof the mother and the child, education andupbringing of children, should be directed to both menandwomen; and :
7 . Mediapractitioners shouldnot ridicule and stigmatize or give less

importance to people, by reason of gender, sexualorientation, and physical attributes.

B. Gender Inclusive Language

1. Mediapractitioners gendermust practice the use of gender-fair/ neutrallanguage; and 2. Media must avoid languagethat is vulgar,indecent,promotes gender substance abuse, discrimination, racism, Satanism, violence perversion or sexual or demeans a member of anysector of society. C. GenderEqualityin the Workplace 1. Women mustbe paidequally including otherformsof remuneration and fringe benefits, as a male employee, forworkof equal value; 2. Women employees musthaveequalopportunities to promotion, training,
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grants employees; likemale study andscholarship any leave andto discharge to matemity isentitled employee 3. Everywoman of any enjoying preventing from her purpose of for the womanemployee ' provided thisCodeis unlawful; under the benefits or of hercondition, onaccount maynotbedischarged woman 4. A pregnant pregnancy; and dueto her or in confinement whileon leave fromworkforfear admission or refused shallnotbedischarged 5. A woman be Pregnant. thatshemayagain D. SexualHarassment No.7877 RepublicAct Under is a formof discrimination. harassment Sexual Act of 1995",Section Harassment knownas the "Anti-Sexual otherwise - as harassment sexual or training-related work, education 3 defines agentof supervisor, manager, by an employee, thatwhichis committed or any other professor, coach,trainer, instructor, teacher, the employer, another over moral ascendancy or influence person authority, who,having or requests demands, environment, or education in a work or training of whether favorfromthe other,regardless any sexual requires otherwise by the accepted is for submission requirement or request thedemand, objectof saidAct. rulesand regulations to promulgate everyinstitution The law mandates the issue. to address as wellas set up mechanisms
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E. What can unions (and media organizationsand other related groups)do?6 the needto combat it.Thiscanbe donethrough posters, handouts, pam phlets, bulleti ns,notices, (something badges Iike'Zero Tolerance Zonefor SexualHarassment') at the workplace, and has set up a Complaints Committee as required law. by service rules of thecompany. counter practices. anytrends towards anti-labor members. order to boost theconfidence of womenunion members.

Laxmy Murthy,joumalist, extractfrom Europe-lndiaa handbookon gender equalityin joumalism, IFJ

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justice. herin pursuing assist for genderequalityin mediaunions F.Checklist existsin your unionthroughthis whethergenderequality Determine checklist. to promote a policy including equality policy of gender on allaspects of women? the integration policy? of gender guideall of youractivities? policy putintopractice? Doesit really Do yourconsultation members? Howdo you consult membership? the needsof women? practices helpyou to understand of the impact consider Do you routinely womenwell represented? members? youractivities on yourwomen
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Monitoringinformation: Do youcollect enough information about womenand men to monitor activities by gender? Do you consult monitoring figures when making decisions? Do you regularly use thisdatato assess the effectiveness of yourcoreactivities? Visibility:Cana woman's voicebe heard or seenin allyourreports, speeches, publications? meetings and Breaking down barriers: Do you fully understand the barriers, which deter women from joining,taking part, speaking out or competing for leadership in yourunion? Leadership: Are men in leadership activein promoting change? you How do ensuremen to develop an understanding of gender issues? Women'sstructures:Are women's structures and representatives of women members fully integrated into union decision-making structures? Targeting:Do you targetyour activities and services? Are women challenged to get moreinvolved? Do you recognize that positive action maybe necessary if youwantjust results?7

Extractfrom AchievingGender Equality,a Trade Union Manual, ITUC

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Vlll- Recommendations

and Training A. Monitoring for Actionrecognized SectionJ of the UnitedNationsBeijingPlatform lt encourages for change. a tool as monitoring media of the importance 'mediawatch to establish associations NGOsand mediaprofessional that to ensure withmedia andconsult the media groups thatcanmonitor properly reflected. are concerns needs and women's (GMMP) beganpriorto the Beijing Project MediaMonitoring The Global on 'Women conference international 1994 Bangkok The Declaration. for by the World association organized Communication' Empowering with the International (WACC) in association Communication Christian the idea conceived in NewYorkandlSlSManila Center Tribune Women'S in media. portrayal women of and of therepresentation of a onedaystudy the following initiatives, genderand media monitoring To undertake maybe taken: specific actions monitoring in media a. Traintrainers monitoring' and media for gender manual a training b. Develop dimensions onthegender databases andreference statistics c. Produce telenovelas and operas soap entertainment, of news,advertising, periods of time. running overextended using the resultsof studiesby mediaobservatories d. Disseminate
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products audiovisual thatshowthe lackof coherence between media messages, country realities andthe needfor awareness of a reflective andcritical approach to media. e. Share toolsandexperiences in policy andmedia monitoring. f. Establish media groups monitoring working to undertake ongoing and consistent media monitoring at national level g. Workwithmedia councils andmedia associations to implement action plansusing the results of national media monitoring as evidence.s B. Mainstreaming GenderEqualityin Media Awards 1. Add genderequality in content and programming as a criterion for media awards. 2. Encourage all awardgivingbodies to createa category on Gender sensitivity. 3. Encourage all awardgivingbodies to recognize the contribution of women to the community andsociety.

Who makesthe news GMMP2010

Gender Equality Committee

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