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Friday September 22 2000
Women and the media In the new South Africa women still being shunned by society.
With difficulties, controversial topics as rape and domestic violence are being discussed. Women’s organisations have a tough battle to fight this. This year a High Court judge gave a relative meagre sentence of 7 years to a man who raped his daughter, only because the crime was committed inside the family unit...

But also in the media the battle is hard. Stereotypes and biased writing styles are the order of the day. For black women it is still very difficult to gain access to the media. MediaWorks (Cape Town) is an organisation that supports the democratisation and gender-sensitising of the media. MediaWorks provides training to communities that previously had little or no access communication and media education. The organisation’s newsletter, MediaWatch, acts as a watch-dog for insensitive reporting on gender issues in the South African press. This newsletter is an eye-opener for the still male-dominated media in country.

At the mediamarket a video about MediaWorks women’s programme is being showed.
Karen Thorne (director of MediaWorks), Talent Nyathi (Zimbabwean journalist) and Marleen Janssen Groesbeek (Dutch Foundation “Women and media”) will exchange experiences from their respective backgrounds.
Friday 22 September 14.00 - 15.00
De Balie Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 10 Amsterdam
 

“Hi, I am Charlize Theron. People often ask me what men are like in South Africa. Well... consider that more women are raped in South Africa than any other country in the world. that one out of three women will be raped in their lifetime in South Africa. And perhaps, worst of all, that the rest of men in South Africa seem to think that rape isn’t their problem. It’s not easy to say what the men in South Africa are like. Because there seem to be so few of them out there.”

This successful anti-rape advertisement was pulled off air by South Africa’s Advertising Standards Authority after complaints of a group of men.
 
Useful links MediaWorks

Women’s net

Zambia: media discriminates against women

Gender, politics and the Media

Botswana: women in the media

 
links on the Mediamarket newsletter 01
Hiphop - can it become “new media”?
Journalists in conflict areas
Racism and media
NiZA media programme
Organisation: Netherlands Institute for Southern Afica
De Balie - Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 10 - Amsterdam - 14.00-18.00 hrs

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