Southern Africa Strikes a Blow for Gender Equality at Media Summit

"Making every voice count" was the theme of the path-breaking Gender and Media Summit that took place on the outskirts of Johannesburg in September 2004. Hosted by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), which seeks to foster free, independent and diverse media in the region, and Gender Links, a South Africa-based non-governmental organization that promotes gender equality in and through the media, the GEM Summit brought together 184 participants, most of them from the 13 countries in the region.

A key outcome of the Summit was the launch of the Gender and Media Network Southern Africa (GEMSA). According to the vision outlined in its draft constitution, the new network aims to "promote gender equality in and through the media in tangible, action-oriented strategies aimed at achieving and measuring change."

For more details see
http://www.genderlinks.org.za/docs/2003/GMbaselinestudy/gmbs-full-text-1.htm.

WICT Announces Results of 2004 PAR Initiative

The Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WICT) Foundation announced the results of the 2004 PAR Initiative on Nov. 1, 2004.

Conducted in partnership with Working Mother Media, the PAR Initiative measures the advancement of women in three key areas: Pay Equity, Advancement Opportunities, and Resources for work/life support. 32 companies participated in the 2004 PAR Initiative; 20 of these 32 companies participated in both 2003 and 2004.

Some of the key findings of the PAR Initiative:

• Women account for more than 38% of the employee population at participating companies, and 38.4% of all managers

• Women of color account for 13.5% of all cable employees and 8.55% of all managers.

• The representation of women at the senior level of management stayed nearly level: 27% in 2003; 26.6% in 2004.

• The percent of women middle managers increased from 19.7% in 2003 to 34.1% in 2004.

• In 2003, 65% of companies had no formal pay equity policy. In 2004, 40% had no formal pay equity policy. In 2004, only 5% of companies conduct no internal pay equity surveys.

Further details are available at www.wict.org.

International Women's Film Festival Honors Defender of Women's Rights

The 17th Tokyo International Women's Festival (Oct. 24-27, 2004), featuring films focusing women directors and feminist perspectives, had as its special guest of honor Beate Sirota Gordon, who added the provision on equality between men and women" when she worked on drafting a new constitution for Japan after World War II.

Tomoko Fujiwara, director of "The Gift from Beate," a 92 minute-documentary, recalled Gordon's amazing life. Born to world-famous pianist Leo Sirota, an expatriate Russian Jew who had escaped from the communist government and made Japan his home, and a devoted Japanese mother who was a real connoisseur of music, at the age of 15 1/2, Gordon went to California to attend Mills College. With the start of World War II, the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service hired Gordon to listen to and interpret radio broadcasts from Japan. After the war, Gordon was employed by the occupation forces as a junior staff member of the new constitution-drafting committee.

She used this opportunity to promote women's status, knowing Japanese women had long suffered at the bottom of social structure because of the lack of equality between men and women.

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