Mediascan, a monitoring tool on gender equality
During the Paris Peace Forum last week (on November 12th), Free Press Unlimited organised a session during which we pitched a gender monitoring tool called Mediascan. This tool was developed by Tuwindi, in cooperation with Free Press Unlimited and is used to monitor gender representation in and by the media.
Introducing Mediascan
Mediascan collects gender monitoring data through a mobile or web application and processes it automatically and in real time. At the moment it is being used by media organisations in Mali, Nepal and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It can be tailor-made to address additional indicators (i.e. gender representation within Covid-19 coverage) and is easy to scale-up. In all countries our partners report positive changes as a result of sharing gender monitoring data with the newsrooms: from increasing female reporters bylines and sources in Nepal, setting up an extensive database of female experts in DRC, to the creation of the successful Gender, Independence, and Professionalism (GIP) label for the media in Mali.
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The importance of monitoring
The role of the media is absolutely essential in achieving gender equality. Representing all genders equally in all their diversity is an important way to advance the position of all genders in the media and beyond. However, in order to achieve this goal, we must have data that reflects and analyzes gender representation in societies. Without this information, it is impossible to know where to implement change.
Monitoring is an essential first step in achieving gender equality. With monitoring tools, such as Mediascan, comes a better understanding and increased awareness of gender-imbalances in our societies and newsrooms. The data reports produced by Mediascan can help both editors in newsrooms and policymakers at national levels to address imbalances and create gender-sensitive policies.
Free Press Unlimited continues to advocate for the use of standardized monitoring tools in achieving gender equality and the creation of Mediascan brings us a step closer to this important goal.
