Women making the news in Mozambique

8 March 2006: In Mozambique only 2 % of the editors and 25 % of the journalists and are women. UNESCO calls on the media worldwide to hand over editorial responsibility to women at International Women’s Day on 8 March, and to participate in the global initiative “Women Make the News” 2006. UNESCO’s appeal for equality in the media – as in all other spheres – is a part of the struggle for genuine democracy in society at large and in media institutions in particular.

The campaign, celebrated this year for the forth time, is aimed at celebrating the professional achievements of women journalists. The initiative seeks to promote equal professional chances and equal access to decision-making positions for both men and women in media newsrooms. By creating the initiative “Women Make the News”, UNESCO’s Director General, Mr Koichiro Matsuura, emphasizes that the issue of gender equality must remain at the forefront of each society’s agenda and the international community until gender balance is achieved at every level in the workplace. Women Make the News 2006 promotes a genuine dialogue and reflection on topics such as “Where are women currently fitting into newsrooms? Are opportunities for women in newspaper, TV and radio

newsrooms equal to those of men? What does it take for women to climb the ranks? And why does the media “glass ceiling” remain intact ?” Women Make the News 2006 aims to provide a platform for learning from each other's experiences and design effective responses to persisting ingrained preconceptions that women are not fit for media executive and leadership positions .

Women poorly represented in Mozambican media
In Mozambique only 100 out of 400 journalists are women. Only 11 % of the presenters on TV are women, and women only hold 2% of the positions as media editors. No women are media owners, only media director general is female, and one community radio is owned by a woman’s association, Rádio N´tyana, in Hulene, a suburb of Maputo.
To mark the International Women’s Day, TVM is planning to send the film “Listen to the women”, about the women’s struggle to get positions in the media in Mozambique. The film is produced by Ebano Multimedia for the UNESCO Media Development Project, and will be shown at 22:30 hrs. on Sunday March 12.
UNESCO is dedicating the month of March to collecting stories about outspoken women media personalities, who have made a critical difference in journalism, about their ability to move an agenda and their effectiveness in securing gains for the society at large and for women, in particular.

UNESCO also appeal that all media on the 8th of March:

• Give women editorial responsibility to mark International Women's Day;

• Support the initiative by registering at http://www.unesco.org/march8

• Send articles, features, interviews and comments about female reporters, newsmakers and editors
  who have made it to the top to UNESCO.

For more information contact Nina Bull Jorgensen, Communications Officer, UNESCO Maputo