UNESCO, UN Women sign partnership agreement to promote gender equality in Palestinian media

UNESCO and UN Women Palestine offices signed a partnership agreement on 1 July 2021 with the aim of enhancing the role of women and promoting gender-sensitive reporting in Palestinian media.

The agreement, which will last until March 2022, encompasses various activities such as conducting a gender study of major media organizations and monitoring gender presence in five major outlets in Palestine.

It also provides for the development of a media code of conduct to support Palestinian media organizations to become more gender-sensitive and have clear indicators of women’s and men’s roles and participation within their ranks. Additionally, managers of media organizations and editorial staff will also be able to access training and capacity-building workshops with the aim of enhancing gender sensitivity at the level of produced materials as well as the work environment.

Noha Bawazir, Head of Office and UNESCO Representative, stressed on the role of UNESCO in promoting the values of freedom and the safety of journalists as one of UNESCO’s mandates and its intersectionality with the female journalist’s safety in particular. Ms. Bawazir explained the importance of collaborating with sister United Nations organizations to achieve mutual goals and objectives.

Ms. Bawazir and Ms. Guimond underlined that this agreement constitutes an essential tool of cooperation, and has the possibility of extension in the future, to entail further work to enhance women’s presence in various roles in the media, including as journalists, leaders, columnists, analysts and news sources, in addition to ensuring gender-sensitive reporting of various issues.