Gender and Media Experts Gather to Promote Gender Equality in the Sri Lankan Media

A fresh participatory initiative to develop a Gender Charter for Sri Lankan media took
place in Colombo, recently. Thirty gender experts from different disciplines such as
media, academia, researchers, civil society members, policy makers, government
representatives, activists, journalists and LGBTO+ representatives gathered to extend
their solidarity in this initiative.

The first discussion which was held on 26 th November 2018 highlighted that the
necessity for media to play an important role in the promotion of gender equality in the
representation of women, men and other gender groups in terms of fair gender portrayal
and in the use of neutral and non-gender specific language; and to promote women’s
participation at all levels within the working environments. Therefore, a Gender Charter
for media industry is a huge need of the moment. The same need has been appealed
by International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in 2015, urging that there is an urgent
need for radical reforms in the media industry, especially with its minimal representation
of women.

The second discussion which took place on 07 th December 2018 highlighted some key
concerns of fair gender portrayal, inclusivity, equal opportunities and safe working
environment. In this context the experts further acknowledged that none of the
provisions would be implemented without a proper implementation plans, learning from
the past attempts to develop a similar document. Therefore, the team discussed the
possible ways in which to get the media organizations and the outlets in the process of
developing a charter and focus more on an implantation strategy, lobbying, advocacy
and training.

This is an initiative by Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF) as a part of
Media Empowerment for a Democratic Sri Lanka (MEND) Program, which is being
supported by International Research Exchange Board (IREX) and USAID.
In development of this important document, SDJF will engage with wider stakeholders
and conductfurther consultations in the future to ensure that the document is an
inclusive and participatory instrument.