Women's Equal Footing in Mass Media

The media spreads not only information, but also cultural rules and social values. [Women of China]

The media spreads not only information, but also cultural rules and social values. Thus, it has a profound influence on people's awareness of gender equality and their understanding of women's roles in families and society. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, passed at the Fourth World Conference on Women in September 1995, listed "stereotyping of women and inequality in women's access to and participation in all communication systems, especially in the media" as one of its critical areas of concern.

Chinese government has introduced some laws and regulations to advance gender equality in the media sector; public opinions are guided to focus on the gender equality-related issues; there is an increase of women workers in the industry; GE awareness training has been intensified for media workers.

Regulations and Policies

The Report to the Eighteenth National Congress stresses the need to "strengthen social management of cyberspace and promote orderly network operation according to law, cracking down on pornography and wiping out vulgar entertainment." The National Program for the Development of Chinese Women (2011-2020) proposes to enable women's access to knowledge and information through the media based on better-established gender equality monitoring mechanisms and enhanced guidance and management of the media.

In advertising, television and other media programs, obscene content is explicitly prohibited. To crack down on Internet pornography that is produced or disseminated online, an action called "net purging" has been carried out in an effort to identify such information and punish producers and disseminators.

Attention Paid to Gender Equality Issues to Lead Public Opinion

Women's issues have been highlighted across the mass media, in order to promote policy improvement through media communication and public opinion, such as the abolishment of the sentence called "having paid sex with underage girls," and "the domestic violence case of Li Yang," where media exposure contributed to the progress of national laws and policies. On December 4, 2013, the People's Daily launched a column entitled "how to break gender discrimination in employment," keeping a close eye on female job seekers suffering gender discrimination.

Mainstream media's positive coverage of women has also been increased, with active publicity about the contribution of women in the science and technology, economy and rural development and other fields, which plays an important role in redressing discrimination against women and damage to their rights and interests in the current Chinese context. Some excellent film and literary works have also helped to make new progress in disseminating awareness of gender equality and incarnating women's significance.

Meanwhile, platforms for the dissemination of gender equality have been set up backed by the new media. Women's organizations and groups have made their own voice heard by creating accounts discussing gender equality and women's rights on these platforms. For example, the ACWF, the Chinese Women's Research Society, the China Women's News, Women's Foreign Language Publications of China, and the CWDF all set up their official microblogs ("voice of women", china-woman.com, Women of China, Gender Research Letters, etc.) for the timely delivery of gender equality messages, calling to raise public awareness of gender equality.

Increased Proportion of Female Workers in the Media Sector

The number and proportion of women working in the media increased, with more female employees engaged in media production. Women accounted for 43 percent of certified journalists in China in 2012. Among young journalists, women take a greater share; in the new media structure, the proportion of women has reached nearly 70 percent.

Strengthened Training across Media Practitioners on Gender Awareness

On April 17, 2014, the NWCCW, the Ministry of Culture, the SARFT and the State Council Information Office jointly organized a gender awareness training session for news media nationwide, attended by principals of the Central Committee of the Communist Young League, Xinhua.net, People's Daily Online and other mainstream media. In December 2011, the ACWF Human Resource Training Center organized a training session for the broadcasting and television system called "Gender and the Media." Local programs and competitions have also been combined with gender training to cultivate gender-sensitive media workers.

Culture Fund Management Committee member of the China Women's Development Foundation, Lu Xiaofei — who formerly served as editor-in-chief and executive director of China Women's News — emphasized that the advocacy of gender equality is of prime importance in modern society, so multiple means should be used to publicize the concept. Besides publicizing it in media such as China Women's News, other ways, including media watchdogs and media criticism, should also be used. Lu said that gender equality advocators should not isolate themselves from one another. Instead, they should strengthen their relationships with other women's organizations and with society. This is especially true for grassroots organizations, which always fight on their own, and so are in need of support.

Challenges Ahead

But some problems do exist, for instance, some laws, policies and regulations lack gender equality sensitivity; inequality-related stereotypes still exist in some media coverage; gender inequality can be spotted at workplaces in the mass media industry; and women's status in this sector needs to be further improved. Therefore, we recommend establishing a rigorous system to cover gender-based discrimination and gender sensitivity into media regulation, including gender equality in the media training and teaching of journalism and communication to enhance media workers' gender awareness, providing women especially those at the grassroots level with more accesses to network resources, information technology and more support and training, encouraging and supporting women to make a voice through new media, and expanding international exchanges and cooperation in GE research and practice in the media industry.

Data Speaks

* Women accounted for 43 percent of certified journalists in China in 2012.

* In the new media structure, the proportion of women has reached nearly 70 percent.

(Women of China)