The CSW parallel event- Break the Silence! MENA Media Platforms
Negate Women’s Narratives was sponsored by Nazra for Feminist Studies and
co-sponsored by The Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in the
Middle East and North Africa. This session focused on the violence and stereotypes
perpetrated about women in the media in Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
with a focus on North Africa. The panel consisted of three women who are
involved in the media in North Africa- one from Morocco and two from Egypt. One
consensus among all panelists was that to properly address the issue of
gender-based violence in media, the most important question to answer is: “Are
there female leaders in media?” To this question, all panelists answered NO. The panel members stated that it is
difficult to get real issues concerning women into the media outlets because of
a lack of female representation in leadership positions.
In Egypt, the only sections of
the newspapers that are dedicated for women are for fashion, beauty, motherhood
and cooking which often perpetuates untrue stereotypes and when real issues are
addressed, it is called a corruption of the women’s section of the newspaper. This
serves as a battle for the Women Human Rights defenders as they are not only up
against the media and a patriarchal society but also against private companies
who have a vested interest in continually perpetuating these demeaning stereotypes
of women in order to keep up their sales of cosmetic, fashion and beauty
products. In Morocco, women are championed as being equal and included but are portrayed
in the media as commodity which is a paradoxical situation that reinforced
patriarchy among the younger generation and shifts the focus away from gender
based violence.
However a battle has been won
with the aid of local, regional and international feminist activists who
provide journalists with the data needed to compel editors-in-chief to publish
these important issues as there are facts and figures to back up the need for
this information. In Egypt, Ms. Raneem has taken it upon herself to create a
safe space for Egyptian women, especially rural women who experience worse forms of violence to tell their stories from a different perspective
than that of the traditional media outlets who blame the victims of sexual
terrorism. She created this space because as a professional in the media, she
had experienced firsthand how women were portrayed as commodity, the lack of female
leadership in media and the portrayal of sexual violence in the media. She uses
alternative media outlets to ensure that the voices of women are heard with the
hope that these efforts in the media will serve as a tool to change the culture.
