Tag Archive for: Media Violence

Last Tuesday, April 26, we participated in the third meeting of the CEDAW Global Network where we shared experiences on the preparation of shadow reports.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

All States that have signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) must submit periodic reports to its Committee to account for compliance with the international obligations assumed with their signature and accession. The civil society organizations of each country, depending on their experience and the work they carry out, can present a “shadow report”, a kind of alternative and complementary report to those presented by the States parties to account for the reality of women that they know first-hand, so that the Committee has the necessary tools to prepare the final recommendations.

In view of the relevance of the participation of organizations in this process, we were invited to participate in the meetings of the CEDAW Global Network, organized by Gloria Ramírez, Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair in Human Rights at UNAM. The objective of this Network is to create a space for convergence, dialogue and discussion around the experiences of elaboration and participation in the formation of CEDAW reports.

From our experience we present and share the process of preparing three reports for CEDAW, all in the framework of the 65th session of the Convention: Tobacco control in Argentina: pending tasks to protect women’s health; Gender violence and public communication policies and Access to natural resources of rural women in the Gran Chaco region of Argentina.

We heard contributions from both the UNESCO Chair in Human Rights at UNAM and civil society organizations from Ecuador, Guatemala, Uruguay and Colombia.

Throughout the meeting we shared experiences by country regarding the challenges of each region, as well as the implementation of the gender perspective in the different areas of the country. The possibility of collaboration agreements with the Chair was explored and we delved into the progress and challenges in reference to gender violence in each country.

In this framework, together with the Global Network and the organizations that make it up, we will continue working to support cooperation in monitoring the implementation of the commitments assumed by the States party to CEDAW, the preparation of shadow reports and the exploration and development of advocacy strategies to collaborate in the guarantee of the human rights of women and diversities and gender-based dissidence.

 

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Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org 

During the year 2021, faced with a pandemic context, we participated in the first Public Hearings of the Public Defender’s Office in virtual mode, through a videoconference platform and, at the beginning of this year, the reports resulting from the process were published.

Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic.

Communication during the pandemic

The Public Hearings of the Public Defender’s Office have been held every year since 2013, with the exception of the 2019-2020 period, fulfilling the mandate of the Audiovisual Communication Services Law to evaluate the functioning of the body through citizen participation.

The theme that governed the conversations of the last Hearing was “The media and information in the pandemic”. The meetings that were held were of the utmost importance since it was an issue that has affected not only the country but also the world in a transversal way. Approaching communication from a rights and gender approach implies conceiving all citizens as subjects of law and commits the State to guarantee their participation and incidence in political decisions. This becomes urgent in a context in which information is a fundamental human right for survival, which is why this Hearing allowed the Public Defender’s Office to internalize the needs and claims of the different actors in society regarding this issue. and all those who touch us as communicational citizens.

The thematic axes that were debated were: right to communication and Law 26,522 of Audiovisual Communication Services; access to audiovisual communication services in coverage of the pandemic; information and disinformation in the audiovisual media about the Covid-19 pandemic; specific considerations in the audiovisual coverage of the pandemic on historically marginalized sectors; State and public communication policies linked to the operation of audiovisual communication services in a pandemic; situation of the workers of the press, regulation and organization of work; proposals, suggestions and requests addressed to the Public Defender’s Office in relation to audiovisual media in a pandemic.

Our intervention

Organized by regions, the first virtual audience was that of the Central Region, which includes the provinces of Córdoba, Santa Fé and Entre Ríos, divided into two days due to the large call. Through the participation of Mayca Balaguer, coordinator of the areas of Legal Affairs and Gender and Sexual Diversity, we participated in this Public Hearing contributing from a human rights and gender perspective.

In reference to the aspects that we consider positive and negative in the media coverage of the pandemic, we highlight that the media served and had a fundamental role as a channel for transmitting information related to Covid-19 and health measures. However, we express our concern about some cases of fake news, disinformation and even bad examples.

Likewise, regarding media and symbolic gender violence, we state that during the pandemic we observed that in many cases the media reinforced gender stereotypes, fundamentally through a strong stigmatization of fat bodies, motivated by changes in habits in diet and sedentary lifestyle caused by isolation. Far from promoting healthy habits in a way that respects body diversity, we noticed that many media outlets fell into fat-phobic and stereotyping discourses.

Regarding the role of the State, we highlight the need to develop visibility strategies for alternative, self-managed, community media from different parts of the country, which are dedicated to reporting from the territories. We believe that the contribution of these media is key to recovering the voices and perspectives of non-hegemonic sectors from a perspective that respects human rights, especially those that are made up of women and dissidents, people with disabilities, racialized, fat, etc. At this point, a more equitable distribution of the official guideline may be a key factor in sustaining these media, which, due to the socioeconomic consequences derived from social isolation, may cease to exist, fueling the monopolization of information in the hands of hegemonic media.

The importance of citizen participation in communication policies

The Public Defender’s Office’s main objective is to promote and guarantee the rights of audiences in pursuit of democratic communication throughout the country. To achieve this, it holds public hearings that seek to actively participate and involve citizens in decision-making so that these are made in a transparent manner and, ultimately, a more informed and participatory society is generated that has access to its right to communication.

In these public hearings, they function as a mechanism for the State to carry out an updated diagnosis on the operation of the audiovisual media, recovering different points of view, opinions, experiences and studies provided by citizens. This makes it possible to inform, design and implement public policies aimed at the recognition and exercise of the rights of the audience.

For this reason, we celebrate this space for citizen participation in which we participate, since it is essential to guarantee equal access to information and to expand the diversity of voices in the government decision-making process. This promotes the construction of informed, inclusive, more democratic, fair and equitable public policies that incorporate a rights approach.

Autor

Irene Aguirre

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org

In the early morning of June 11, the Law of Equity in the Representation of Genders in the Communication Services of the Argentine Republic was enacted. A Lley product of the feminist struggles in favor of a democratization in the media organizations in both labor spheres and as producers of meaning.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

The media have a fundamental role in the construction and reproduction of meanings and representations about social and subjective reality. As such, they can contribute to the support and justification of inequalities or they can question them, both from their speeches through the content they produce and disseminate as well as within themselves, being understood as work spaces with a specific labor organization.
Investigating how media content is produced, who produces it, what is their training and trajectory, and what place each one occupies within the media allows us to have a map of the situation to address the violence and structural gender inequalities that they reproduce within these spaces.
The media companies, specifically the large commercial media, are characterized by their work structure founded from an androcentric approach. What has conditioned the income, permanence, development and work performance of women and, of course, has excluded transvestite, trans, intersex and non-binary people.
This is visible in the labor trajectories differentiated by gender:

Source: Chaher and Pedraza (2018). Media and gender organizations. Córdoba: Fundeps, Communicate Equality.

To make this graph, only binary data were obtained in terms of gender, that is why it has not been possible to reconstruct work trajectories taking into account the diversity of identities, such as transvestites, trans, intersex and non-binary people. At the time the investigation was carried out, there was only a single trans person working in one of the Córdoba media. Currently there is some progress in this regard, although it remains insufficient. It is possible to recognize the structural gender inequalities that make it difficult, even more than for cisgender women, to access employment, particularly in these types of companies with diverse and dissident identities.

Now, when observing the graph, it is possible to notice that although most of the people who graduate from careers related to communication in the city of Córdoba and Buenos Aires are women, less than half of them go to work in the media commercial. Even fewer are promoted to higher positions, a situation that is reproduced again, although with a deeper inequality, in union spaces.
These career paths are traversed by personal paths. Unpaid domestic and care work falls mainly on women and femininity, affecting their autonomy. As a result, they are the majority among part-time workers and hired under precarious regimes in order to reconcile their working life with unequally distributed care responsibilities. To this must be added micro-chauvinisms and all types of violence that are combined with masculinity pacts, which perpetuate these unequal and exclusive structures.

The lack of gender and care policies, as well as the lack of gender awareness and training in a transversal manner, or the delegation of this responsibility to feminist communicators and gender editors, are some of the obstacles that many of the media companies most important in the country have not been able to overcome. Even in a context of profound changes in favor of gender equality and the demands of the audiences.

What does the law say?

The recently enacted Law of Equity in the Representation of Genders in Communication Services of the Argentine Republic is inserted in a national and international legal framework and of historical claims of various social and feminist movements, of which it is the result. Claims that were previously reflected in national legislation, such as Law 26,485 on Comprehensive Protection to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women in the areas in which they develop their interpersonal relationships, Law 26,743 on Gender Identity and the Law 26,522 of Audiovisual Communication Services, among others. As well as public policies, such as the creation of the Public Defender’s Office and the AFSCA, were the result of the commitments assumed by the State in the fight against gender violence.

Its purpose is “to promote equity in the representation of genders from a perspective of sexual diversity in communication services, whatever the platform used” in all the country’s communication media, although it is only mandatory for those of management state. This law does not seek parity, but goes further: it is based on the principle of equity and the inclusion of all gender gender identities in all positions of the media labor structures, breaking with binarism. the promotion of democratization and diversity of voices and their labor structures.

This democratization process from a gender and diversity perspective is understood as gradual, gradual and only mandatory for state-run media, while privately managed media will be encouraged through the preference in assigning official guidelines in cases to carry out measures in the sense proposed by this law.

These positive action measures move away from the punitive paradigm to establish proactive policies that encourage transformations respecting the times and processes of each privately managed media.

In turn, the corresponding authority will be created for the implementation of the law in order to guarantee its compliance.

We celebrate these legal advances that are the result of the insistent struggle of feminist movements, especially feminist communicators and journalists who in their daily practices sustained, and still do, transformations inside and outside their work spaces. We are aware that the struggle does not end with the enactment of a law, but requires a comprehensive and intersectional implementation plan to achieve real equality and make the rights formally sanctioned tangible.

We will keep our attention on the implementation of the law and the public policies designed and carried out to achieve it.

Más información:

We received a response from the Public Defender’s Office regarding the claims of symbolic and media violence carried out on the Los Angeles de la Mañana program on Channel 13 and the journalist Fabiana Dal Prá on the central noon newscast on Channel 12 in Córdoba.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

Chimentos format and forced exposure

In the program Los Ángeles de la Mañana on Channel 13 on July 23, journalist Yanina Latorre told on the air that Karina Jelinek “does not whitewash her partner”, and that “she lives as a couple, with a very pretty girl” “They live together and are cuddly”, to which he added many other expressions referring to his private life. Later, a female worker claimed that Karina did not want to talk about her relationships and that she had declared that she was alone.

This type of “gossip” and content are very frequent on television, where the high exposure of famous women always leads to their private life and sexuality being exposed. However, an analysis of the case was requested by the Public Defender’s Office since it concerns the sexual orientation of a person who did not want to be exposed.

Faced with this claim, the Ombudsman’s Office responded by justifying and endorsing the dynamics that occurred in the program, through the argument that the reading and interpretation framework in which news related to the private life of public persons are presented responds to the magazine genre of shows. In the programs of this format, according to the Ombudsman’s Office, color “chimentos” are presented, firsts of the public and private life of entertainment figures, alluding, many times, to the fact that the media do not want data about them to be mediated . That is to say, the negative position of the figures works as the trigger for a chain of situations that transcend the broadcast, expanding on the rest of the television programs related to the genre: someone announces a scoop, the famous referrer gets angry in that or another program and interviews are carried out, among other variants provided by the format.

In this framework, the Directorate understands that the information offered by the panelist [Yanina Latorre] as a scoop, integrates the expected repertoire of possibilities that the program format enables ”.

Following this, the agency affirms that the program does not identify comments of a burlesque or discriminatory tone regarding Jelinek’s sexual orientation, but quite the opposite: “Likewise, it is observed that the comments and evaluations expressed are inserted in a framework of respectful communication of gender and sexual diversity and this approach is fostered throughout the development of the topic and by the host and all the panelists. Similarly, the dissemination of positive expressions and evaluations on the subject abounds, which contributes to questioning and de-constructing binary and stereotyped conceptions about affective relationships and a respectful visibility of diversity. “

Based on these arguments, the Ombudsman’s Office considers that the situation described does not enable an intervention in terms of violation of rights.

However, we understand that the institution must advance in deeper analyzes regarding the consent that is taken for granted about the exposure of the lives of public figures, as well as the objectification and fetishization of feminities and their sexual orientations.

The gossip format, like humor, seems to be a gray space where certain speeches are enabled that can be offensive and even violent, particularly towards the lives of LGTBIQA + people.

Without ignoring the importance of protecting the privacy of all people, it is necessary to recognize that it is not the same to speak and expose the sex-affective bonds between people who adhere to the heteronorm than those who do not, precisely because of the implications they have for their lives that pass in a heterocispatriarchal world.

In turn, the comments of the panelists involve the objectification of two women and their sexual orientation, which is evident in the comments of the panelist Yanina Latorre: “I love it”, “they tell me that it is a couple . It’s great. All good ”,“ well, we are glad ”,“ not bad. It gives me divine joy. They are both beautiful ”,“ you know I was looking at her to see what it would be like to be with her, I tell you she has divine tits ”.

Finally, why assume the supposed consent of public and media people to be exposed in all areas of their life? We are concerned about the interpretive framework used by the Ombudsman’s Office since it legitimizes the logic of these magazines, which imply a denial of the consent of public figures, which ignores what Jelinek said about not wanting to talk about his private life and which may have particularly violent implications when refer to your sexual orientation.

The Ombudsman’s Office in the media approach to cases of physical and sexual violence

Let us remember the interview conducted by the journalist Fabiana Dal Prá with a rape victim. “Do you blame yourself for something?” Dal Prá asks after Dahyana, the young woman from Cordoba who was sexually attacked in Barrio Ampliación Las Palmas, recounted her painful experience.

The claim presented to the Ombudsman’s Office was responded favorably by the agency: “This approach proposes a risky interpretative framework for the facts, since by insinuating the possible guilt of the victim (even under a discursive modality of interrogation and not of explicit affirmation) it promotes the legitimation and naturalization of the acts of violence suffered ”. At the same time, it highlights the need and responsibility of those who communicate, to dismantle and eradicate violent coverage that reproduces “the guilty and naturalizing senses that those who exercise violence often express as reasons for the causality of the facts. It is important that those who communicate emphasize that all the reasons and the responsibility lies with the person who carries out the violence ”.

At the same time, the analysis of the institution revealed inconveniences at the time of safeguarding the identity of the person in a situation of violence and the absence of a badge with the 144 telephone line for assistance to victims of gender violence.

In this case, the Ombudsman’s Office recognizes that the situation presented corresponds to a case of symbolic and media violence, for which it proceeded to communicate the claim to Channel 12 and made itself available to dialogue with the channel in order to “enrich, from a rights perspective, future approaches of the station. “

The importance of the Public Defender’s Office for the eradication of gender violence

In May of this year, Miriam Lewin was appointed as Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication Services, after years of weakness and institutional weakness. This appointment has meant the strengthening not only of the Public Defender’s Office, but also an advance in the recognition of the rights of audiences as well as a renewed impetus in the fight against media and symbolic violence.

The responses received by the Ombudsman’s Office to the claims presented, in which the procedure for receiving, analyzing and returning them is clarified and made visible, indicates an important activation of the institution in pursuit of the defense of our rights.

Based on these claims, we celebrate the responses and actions of the Public Defender’s Office and, in turn, we require that progress be made in deeper and more enlightening interpretations of cases of symbolic and media violence.

More information

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org

On July 21, in the central news show on Canal 12 in Córdoba, journalist Fabiana Dal Prá interviewed a rape victim. We denounced before the Public Defender’s Office, her approach, which was an example of media and symbolic violence, showing how much there is still no training in gender perspective in the media.

Do you blame yourself for something?” Dal Prá asks after a woman on her back recounted her painful experience, visibly moved. Dahyana, the young Cordovan woman who was sexually assaulted in the Ampliación Las Palmas neighborhood responds forcefully that she is not guilty of anything, that she has been the victim of a sex crime.

It is not the first time that the journalist has committed symbolic and media violence. In 2019, in the case of Lautaro Teruel, accused of sexual abuse of a ten-year-old girl, he described the fact on the air as a “mistake”. The same thing happened in 2018, when interviewing a young woman who had been abused in the vicinity of the Kempes Stadium, who asked her, after the account of the events: “Are you sorry for how you reacted?”.

This approach to sexual abuse cases, focusing on the victim’s guilt and questioning their actions, only manages to minimize the fact of physical and sexual violence to which they were subjected through re-victimization and stigmatization. This treatment is an exercise in media violence, not only towards the victim who is exposed and questioned, but also towards other women and femininity who are part of the audience and may have experienced situations of the same type. The impact of a journalistic action of these characteristics is enhanced by the breadth of the scope of the channel and the program’s central schedule.

Nor is it the first time that Canal 12 commits these forms of gender violence nor the first time that it receives public condemnation. This recidivism does nothing more than make evident the lack of commitment of the environment with the visibility, prevention and fight for the eradication of the different types and modalities of gender violence.

In this situation, we denounce the facts before the Public Defender, the administrative body that protects the rights of the hearings, so that it analyzes the interview and intervenes, making recommendations to the media.

Symbolic and media violence in the media
The media are key actors in the construction and reproduction of meanings and values ​​that can legitimize or transform violent practices, behaviors and ways of understanding the world. They are actors who have the possibility of building a more just and equitable society through the deconstruction of gender roles and stereotypes that violate LGBTIQ + women and people.

Unfortunately this is not the case, despite being recognized by law. We are, once again, before a medium that systematically exercises symbolic and media violence in accordance with the definitions of Law 26,485 on Comprehensive Protection to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women, and which are also contemplated in Law 26,522 on Services of Audiovisual Communication.

Media violence is one that through stereotyped patterns, messages, values, icons or signs, transmits and reproduces domination, inequality and discrimination in social relations, naturalizing the subordination of women in society.

Symbolic violence is any publication or dissemination of stereotyped messages and images through any mass media, which directly or indirectly promotes the exploitation of women or their images, injures, defames, discriminates, dishonors, humiliates or attempts against dignity of women, as well as the use of women, adolescents and girls in pornographic messages and images, legitimizing unequal treatment or building sociocultural patterns that reproduce inequality or generate violence against women.

To avoid these types of violence when dealing with cases of sexual abuse, the Public Defender’s Office has a Guide for the responsible treatment of cases of violence against women, in which it indicates that it is necessary to “dispense with approaches that stigmatize, blame , they disbelieve and / or sexualize women in situations of violence ”, as well as“ privilege approaches focused on prevention and awareness of the social problems of violence against women, regardless of the spectacularization and fictionalization of cases.”

It is urgent that the media and journalists are trained and sensitized to develop communication with a gender perspective, egalitarian and non-sexist, but fundamentally, that they put aside these violent practices.

The only appropriate and responsible way of addressing violence against women through the media is starting from a perspective that respects human rights and is committed to the prevention and eradication of violence.

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Last Wednesday, May 27, in the midst of the health emergency affecting Argentina, the bicameral commission for the Promotion and Monitoring of Audiovisual Communication, Telecommunications Technologies and Digitization approved the appointment of journalist Miriam Lewin for the position Defender of the Public of Audiovisual Communication Services and only remains to be endorsed by those who preside over both houses, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Sergio Massa. The position was created by the Media Law and remained headless during the previous government’s term.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

The political and economic instability that has been experienced in the country in recent years has led to a mismatch in regulatory agencies, which has resulted in difficulties in the normal functioning of the agencies responsible for directing and executing public gender and communication policies.

This situation exposed society to violations of their rights. Especially if we bear in mind that the media and advertising agencies are essential actors in content development. They hold a power not only commercial or as cultural institutions, but are considered as opinion formers, producers, reproducers and transmitters of values, stereotypes, meanings and common sense, while determining what is considered relevant, normal , debatable and socially accepted or rejected.

Actors who have a monopoly on the media and content production systematically legitimize gender inequalities through the content they disseminate. For this reason, it is necessary to demand that the State guarantee the effective use of public policies that ensure respect for human rights, democratization of the media, that promote equality and that eliminate discrimination. Not only to overthrow the violence and the reproduction of stereotypes and gender violence that are perpetuated within the contents that are circulating, but also for the elimination of structural inequalities in the work spaces of this industry that mostly affect women.

Thanks to the feminist struggle and its agenda, gender-based violence is no longer tolerated today and as a result of the complaints they managed to create a legislative framework in which Media and Symbolic violence is contemplated. The Audiovisual Communication Services Law and the Comprehensive Protection Law to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women in the areas in which their interpersonal relationships are developed have the goal of protecting and safeguarding the rights of women and LGBTQ + people. In addition, state agencies such as ENACOM, the INAM Observatory of Media and Symbolic Violence (now absorbed by the new Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity), the Public Defender, INADI and the Office for the Monitoring of Publication of Sexual Trade Offer Notices.

Who is Miriam?

Miriam Liliana Lewin is an investigative journalist with an extensive career in television, radio and graphics, including work on Telenoche Investiga, Todo Noticias, Radio Nacional and América TV, among others. She was nominated seven times for the Martín Fierro award on radio and television.

She was a member of the Peronist left during the 1970s and was detained in the Virrey Cevallos clandestine detention center and in ESMA during the last civic-military dictatorship (1976-1983). In 1985 she was a witness in the Trial to the Boards, continues to declare in cases related to crimes against humanity in Argentina and is an active activist for human rights and in the struggles of the feminist movement.

As a writer, her literary works include “Ni putas ni guerrilleras” (co-authored with Olga Wornat) on sexual crimes in clandestine detention centers during the last military dictatorship. It had its first edition in 2014, pre #NiUnaMenos, #MeToo and debate on abortion, and is an indicator of interest and conviction in the feminist agenda.

On several occasions, she has expressed her affinity with the feminist movement, participating as a speaker in talks on abuse and power in society, or referring to the Women and Dissidence meeting, which is held every year in La Plata, highlighting the significant growth and importance of the women’s movement, the green, violet tide and the groups that fight for rights in the country.

In dialogue with TN, Lewin promised “to carry out a democratic and participatory management, with open doors for both communicators and all sectors that feel their rights violated in this special reality. The Ombudsman does not have punitive functions. It is that all those involved in the phenomenon of communication can be represented on the media map. To extend the rights of all and always respecting freedom of expression. “

Today more and more discriminatory discourses are questioned by society and in this line, the appointment of Miriam Lewin constitutes a hopeful message regarding the fight against media violence that affects, mostly, women and people belonging to the LGTBQ + community.

Author 

Irene Aguirre
Sofía Mongi

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org

We held the National Forum on Gender Policies in Journalism and Advertising on September 12 and 13 at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the UBA. We have the presence of interns from the interior of the country dedicated to advertising, journalism and communication, representatives of journalistic and advertising organizations and we obtained the signature of 44 institutions to the Commitment Agreement.

Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic.

There were two days of reflection and discussion around a central axis: the gender policies that exist (and are missing) in the two most important sectors dedicated to communication: advertising and journalism.

On Thursday 12, the day began in the afternoon with the opening of the Forum by the organizations that made this event possible: The Civil Association Communication for Equality, The Heinrich Boll Foundation, UNESCO and Fundeps.

Then, organizations from all over the country linked to journalism and advertising signed the Commitment Agreement on Gender Policies in Journalism and Advertising. They expressed their interest and desire to transform the labor structures of these industries and create democratic, inclusive and diverse spaces, with equal real opportunities to access decision-making positions and more valued areas.

They joined 44 organizations of which 16 are from within the country. They signed 9 media companies, 15 advertising agencies, 7 academic institutions, 6 professional associations and networks, 3 press unions, 3 business chambers and 1 state agency. Those who want to adhere and sign the Commitment Agreement can do so through this form.

The day ended with Luciana Peker’s talk-debate «The feminist tide in journalism and publicity: another way of telling, another way of working.»

Start from questions to find answers

Friday was raised as a meeting place between the various actors that are part of both industries: educational institutions, unions, business chambers, advertising agencies, media companies, civil society organizations, state agencies and workers / is from both industries.

The day was organized in four panels, designed from the critical axes found in both industries. During the morning the following were presented:

  • Care policies, in which Paula Rey and Victoria Gallo (ELA), Georgina Sticco (Gender and Work-Grow), Mariángeles Camusso (Inter-American Open University), Silvia Martínez Cassina (channel 13) and Cecilia Bustos Moreschi (Fundeps) participated as moderator.
  • Labor rights and unionization, whose panelists were Cynthia Benzion (vice president of the Association of Lawyers and Labor Lawyers of CABA), Verónica Baracat (UN Women), Diego Pietrafesa (Telefe-SiPreBA), Luciano Calió (FBC & Fire) and Melanie Tobal (Advertising. org) in moderation.

In the afternoon were the panels «Journalism and Gender» and «Advertising and Gender»:

  • The first, moderated by Pate Palero (PAR Network), was composed of Viviana Mariño (Argentine Time), Nicole Insignares (Clarín Group), Silvia Hernández (UBA) and Gabriela Toledo (Subprogram of Strategies for Training and Communication of San Luis ).
  • The last one was formed by Mariana Iesulauro (Y&R Agency), Agustina Militerno (Havas), Tomás Balduzzi (Higher School of Advertising Creatives) and Rocío Restaino (Women in Advertising) as moderator.

In these spaces, the various actors in the advertising and journalism industries were invited to ask themselves: What is the relationship between care policies and actions and the participation of women in the advertising and journalism industries? Why are there so few women in hierarchical positions and in the most valued areas? What are the most serious problems of both industries in relation to unionization and the construction of labor rights? What strategies can be designed, implemented and evaluated to generate more democratic and diverse work environments?

These questions put into question the labor practices of both industries, the production of content and promoted discussions postponed by some of these actors.

There were two days of intense debate, which allowed us to observe and realize that the advertising and journalism industries are not excluded from many sexist practices, and that, like most of the different items, gender-based inequalities suffer, such as, the wage gap between men and women and the glass ceiling, both produced mainly by the overload in women of unpaid household chores and by maternity. That in order to transform this, it is necessary to defend and transform trade union spaces, to continue with the internal demand for violence-free, equitable and egalitarian spaces. As Luciana Peker said «without union rights, but also gender-specific, there is no possibility of reaching or staying, or reaching places of hierarchy.»

We believe that the Forum was an enriching space as it sat on the same discussion table to workers, companies, unions, educational institutions, civil society organizations and the same State, in order to generate commitments that translate into policies of Formal, concrete and sustainable gender that promote real equality of opportunities, inclusion and diversity within.

Authors

Valentina Montero

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org

In August, during the election campaign, newspaper profile published a note assaulting Ofelia Fernandez. From Fundeps we denounced to INAM and INADI but their responses were lukewarm and insufficient in the case of INAM and restrictive in the case of INADI.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

On July 27, Diario profile published a note entitled “Operation cancel” in which it intended to make a brief analysis of the link between social networks, new technologies and political participation.
With this objective, the author of the note, Pola Oloixarac, took as a reference figure the candidate for legislator by the City of Buenos Aires, Ofelia Fernández, making the following statement:

“In cyclic olitas, as things and people circulate on the web, we learn that certain characteristics of the Argentine bourgeoisie have an unwanted effect on the vagina of the candidate for legislator Ofelia Fernández. In a video where she is seen talking from a pulpit, she says that “the warmth of the bourgeoisie dries my shell.” Ophelia revitalizes the Marxist troop of the class struggle by bringing it closer to the immediacy of her bombshell: she invites us to think that there is an unsatisfied sexual drive in the status quo, and that the heat of the coming revolution is the only thing that could excite the young woman Ophelia According to that image, voting for Ophelia is an invitation to please her sexually, preparing her for a successful intercourse. At 19, Ofelia understands that the personal is political, that is, that the political is genital: that the Pindongas and cuchuflitos of each unite are somehow called to participate in the collective hysteria of the revolution (or the Change).”

In the cited paragraph, the author takes the metaphorical expression used by Ophelia to communicate her disagreement and rejection of certain political practices and makes a literal interpretation with the clear objective of running the debate from the political to the sexual level, degrading her for her status as a woman .

It is important to mention that it is not the first time that the newspaper profile exercises media and symbolic violence against Ofelia Fernández. On November 21, 2018, this same publisher published a note entitled “The schoolgirl k that impacted the G20 counter-summit”. The recidivism of this type of action realizes the urgent need for State agencies responsible for eradicating gender violence to carry out the necessary interventions to achieve this goal.

Faced with the violence of these speeches, from Fundeps we present the corresponding complaint to INAM and INADI through their web pages. Although the first agency received the complaint, INADI contacted by telephone to inform us that the option to make complaints by that means is no longer available and that they must be submitted in one of its offices. We understand that the restriction of the channels to make claims means a restriction on the rights of the hearings, limited to those who have knowledge about this administrative route, the time and resources to do so.

For its part, INAM’s response comes after two months of having filed the complaint; the Institution acknowledges that there was misogyny in the story, but that the author of the note did nothing more than give a literary or philosophical interpretation to Fernández’s sayings, thus minimizing the symbolic, political and media violence to which she went submitted the candidate. The document sent by the institution states:

“Although, mention is made of the genitals of the then candidate, and that should not be part of a political analysis, the note takes up textual phrases from the political leader and the article seems to become an elaborate analysis of those phrases, with some fragments of a rather literary or philosophical tone that include other figures of politics and / or culture. We understand, however, that there was misogynist production in a series of articles or journalistic coverage based on this candidate, although not only, but also other women in politics. ”

The last paragraph cited recognizes the misogyny from which the journalistic approaches to the group “women in politics” are made. However, instead of aggravating and sustaining the claim presented, the paper underestimates these misogynistic violence by falling into a collective.

It is clear that the newspaper profile profile reaffirms and reproduces the political violence faced by women who choose to perform within party politics, and accounts for delegitimization strategies through the reification and sexualization of their bodies. A deal that, on the contrary, is never applied to their male peers.

This type of action delegitimates and disables the political participation of women, as well as undermines the effectiveness of the recently implemented Law of Gender Parity, interfering with the possibility of performance on equal terms as men. This attack on Ofelia Fernández constitutes an attack on all women and a disciplinary and expulsive message from the political arena.

From the above, it is evident that we are facing a case of media and symbolic violence as stipulated by Law 26,485 on the Integral Protection of Women. This regulation defines media violence as follows:

“… That publication or dissemination of messages and stereotyped images through any mass media, that directly or indirectly promotes the exploitation of women or their images, injures, defames, discriminates, dishonors, humiliates or attempts against the dignity of women, as well as the use of women, adolescents and girls in pornographic messages and images, legitimizing inequality of treatment or constructing sociocultural patterns that reproduce inequality or generate violence against women”.

Symbolic violence, on the other hand, is defined as one that “through stereotyped patterns, messages, values, icons or signs transmits and reproduces domination, inequality and discrimination in social relations, naturalizing the subordination of women in society»

The aforementioned note also constitutes a violation of subsection m. Article 3 of Law 26,522 on Audiovisual Communication Services, which establishes the obligation to “promote the protection and safeguarding of equality between men and women, and the plural, egalitarian and non-stereotyped treatment, avoiding all discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. ”

This content, besides constituting an act of violence in itself, functions as a legitimator and a motivator of other expressions of violence. Ofelia Fernández shared the misogynist and macho messages she received in her networks from this publication and declared “It hurts the electoral campaign a lot to enable us to be treated like this. Unfair and unpleasant. ”

Author

Mila Francovich

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org

As every November 25, this Monday marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Date that calls us to review and rethink some data and measures taken by the last management.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

This date and its corresponding march close the “feminist calendar” and like every end of the year it is an opportunity to take stock, in addition to this on the occasion of the early change of government, which invites us to extend the analysis to management four years of President Mauricio Macri.

Thus, for example, at the beginning of the current month the Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich shared in her networks the data on femicides relieved by the portfolio she is in charge of, together with the phrase, in a festive tone like who celebrates an achievement, “We lower the femicides 12.1%! ” This statement, which refers to the amount of femicides of the year 2018 compared to that of 2017 (according to that information, 281 and 292, respectively), in addition to being factually incorrect, is an image of an erroneous perspective on the macho violence that explains largely the action (or lack of action) in gender policy of the outgoing government.

First, the numbers presented by Bullrich differ from those registered by the Women’s Office of the Supreme Court of Justice. According to the latter, the figures are 278 for 2018 and 273 for 2017, so it would be the opposite of the alleged reduction alleged by the minister.

According to Chequeado, the difference between the two statistics would be that in the case of the Ministry “as with other types of crimes, their figures come from police records. That is to say that it is the first post-crime analysis, before the start of the judicial investigation. ” Instead, the Women’s Office relieves information on the legal cases in process. This disparity of data should not be a problem for those corresponding to the current year, since the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Security and the Attorney General’s Office have signed an agreement to unify femicide statistics. However, we will have to wait until 2020 for the report to be published.

Meanwhile, although the official data is not possessed, the work of some feminist organizations that, as part of their militancy and without receiving any compensation, do a thorough monthly survey based on the information obtained in the media Communication. In this regard, the Mumalá National Observatory has registered 226 femicides between January 1 and October 31, 2019, not counting 38 cases under investigation, which means at least one victim every 32 hours. Broken down, this number includes 192 direct femicides, 18 linked and 6 trans / transvestites. Another relevant indicator is that 68% of the murders were perpetrated by either the couple (40%) or the former partner (28%) of the victims. Considering that 18% of them had made prior complaints, the question that arises immediately after reading these data is where the State is and what is the true scope of the policies that it has been implementing regarding gender violence.

A success of the year 2019 was undoubtedly the approval of the Micaela Law, which according to its article 1 stipulates “mandatory training in the subject of gender and violence against women for all people who work in the public service at all levels and hierarchies in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of the Nation ”.

However, if we look more closely at the work of the INAM (National Women’s Institute), a body designated as the authority for the application of that law and in charge of other gender policies, the balance has not been positive. Despite having been ranked in 2017 acquiring the rank of Secretary of State within the Ministry of Social Development, this did not translate into an appropriate budget and in fact this was cut annually.

The gender specialist journalist, Mariana Carbajal, says in her note on Page 12 that, “after the complaint of human rights organizations and women, Congress increased the items assigned to it by the Executive Branch, but those increases did not cover inflation: in 2018 the INAM budget was 15 percent lower in real terms than in 2017 and in 2019, the reduction (also in real terms) compared to last year was 16 percent ”. As logically the budget deficit hinders the execution, it is understandable that, as the note reports, of the 36 shelters for women survivors of gender-based violence that Macri had promised, only 9 have been completed and equipped, of which 8 had begun to be built during the previous government.

All this allows us to affirm that, although during these four years there was some progress, such as the explicit inclusion of gender in the national budget, they were not enough. This is because, fundamentally, it is still necessary for the State to take a stand against this type of violence as a structural problem.

Far from functioning as any crime, the security and punitive approach is inadequate and, despite what Bullrich has said, the figures for femicides have not dropped. Assuming that there had been about ten fewer victims between one year and another, isn’t it alarming that they still exceed 200 annually? Obviously, much remains to be done, not only from the Ministry of Security, but entirely from the entire state apparatus.

Just as gender is transversal and inequality is reproduced in all social spheres (in politics, in the economy, etc.), gender violence is not limited to femicide or physical violence, but, for example, Criminalization of abortion is also a form of violence against pregnant people. In this sense,the latest news regarding the update of the protocol for the Legal Interruption of Pregnancy (ILE) was another attack on sexual and reproductive rights. In turn, it served as a reminder of the unfortunate decision that the government made this year to transform the Ministry of Health into a Secretariat, taking away the margin of decision (in fact, the reason used to justify the cancellation was the lack of consultation of the secretary to his superior). Since we are talking about cabinet portfolios, the promise of President-elect Alberto Fernández to inaugurate the Ministry of Gender Equality is at least hopeful. We also hope that the new administration that will assume this December 10 can redirect strategies against sexist violence to give reins to the profound cultural change that is necessary to really end it.

Of course, the claim to the State for answers is not a simple wait with crossed arms: the feminist movement remains active in the streets and the slogan Ni Una menos remains more current than ever, because beyond the number of victims of femicide and of the percentages in which they vary, as long as there is at least one dead there will be nothing to celebrate.

Author

Mariana Barrios Glanzmann
Contact
Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org

On October 17 and 28 we participated in two different meetings organized by the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the National University of Córdoba (FCC), in order to present our research on gender, journalism and advertising.

Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

During the month of October, we participated in two meetings with professionals, teachers and students of the FCC, where we discussed communication and advertising from a gender perspective.

The first one was held on October 17, within the framework of the Annual Cycle of Encounters and Debates, conducted by the Chair of Television Programming Policies of the Faculty of Communication Sciences. There we present the results of our research “Media organizations and gender”. The Cycle was based on an initiative created by the teaching staff integrated by Ulises Oliva and Sofía Moroz, with the interest of bringing the problems that cross the various spaces linked to communication from a critical perspective into the classroom.

The day was held in a classroom full of participatory students and teachers and aware of the need to promote up-to-date training and attentive to the social, political and cultural transformations and demands of the moment.

Those who participated in the space, did not skimp on gestures of amazement at the figures of gender inequalities in the journalism industry. The surprise revealed not only the importance of research on communication and gender, but also the need for its dissemination among those who are (and will be) part of this industry.

We understand that this meeting means a great step towards incorporating the gender perspective in the curricular contents. Something that probably is not yet reflected in the formal programs of the subjects, but that, little by little, begins to be seen as part of the real curriculums.

The second space of which we participated was the Institute of Institutional Communication that opened the doors to the debate on advertising messages in the meeting on “Communication, advertising and gender perspective“, held on October 28.

In this instance, we present some of the lines of research addressed in the “Advertising Sector and Gender” report, emphasizing our contribution to the analysis of the advertising industry: the gender composition of advertising agencies, both labor structures, and their policies of genre.

We were sharing the space with Manuel Bomheker, who presented some methodological tools so that those who are dedicated to communication can incorporate the gender perspective in their productions. Also present was Elisa Robledo, who contributed to the critical analysis of advertising pieces, showing the evolution of advertising messages and suggesting new routes for more inclusive and diverse advertising, from a gender perspective.

This time, the discussion took place between communication and advertising professionals, who day by day rehearse strategies to produce more democratic contents that enable the construction of meanings from the diversity of identities.

Through these activities, the University acquires a leading role in the transformation of communication since it enables the deconstruction of discourses and senses from the critical approach paid by feminisms. Therefore, we celebrate the generation of these spaces for discussion and capacity building for those who are dedicated and dedicated to the production of media and advertising content.

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org

The event will be held on September 12 and 13, 2019 in classroom 300 of the Faculty of Social Sciences (Constitution Headquarters) of the University of Buenos Aires.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

Transform work structures to transform content

After years of research on the advertising and journalism industries, from Fundeps, the Civil Association for Equality Communication and with the support of the Heinrich Boll Foundation, we consider it relevant to share the results obtained among the actors involved.

Our research shows that gender inequality within media companies, advertising agencies and related unions translates, among other issues, into the co-optation of symbolically and economically more relevant positions and positions held by men. In turn, vocational training institutions have a limited academic offer in gender issues.

This acquires particular relevance due to the key role of these industries in the formation of opinion and cultural mandates.

At this point, it becomes necessary to observe and discuss labor practices and behaviors within these spaces, understanding them as organizational structures. The aim is to promote the construction of inclusive, democratic workspaces, where diverse gender identities participate in the production of sexism-free content and in decision-making positions.

The objective of the event is to generate a sensitization and capacity building, meeting and articulation instance, but also to discuss gender policies in both industries, calling on media companies, advertising agencies, educational institutions, unions and business associations , to workers in the sector, civil society organizations and the State.

The Forum is aimed at these mentioned sectors and those who seek to transform communication and related work spaces from a gender perspective.

Agenda and panels

Participants from the sector of Córdoba and Buenos Aires and more than 20 communicators, publicists and journalists from the country will participate, with the purpose of incorporating a federal perspective on gender policies in journalism and advertising and in order to generate lines of action and impact throughout the country.

On September 12, the Forum will be opened by the institutions that organize it and in which Luciana Peker will make a keynote talk: “The feminist tide in advertising and journalism”.

On Friday 13, between 9 and 18 hours, panels-workshops will be held in which some of the critical axes identified in both industries will be addressed: Care policies; Labor Rights and Unionization; Journalism and Gender; Advertising and gender.

Participation in the Forum is free but admission must complete this registration form.

More information to info@fundeps.org

Circular I National Forum on Gender Policies in Journalism and Advertising

Last Thursday, June 27, we presented our report on gender and publicity at the Open University of Rosario, invited by members of the governing body and teacher of the advertising career.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

After years of research in communication and gender issues together with Comunicación para la Igualdad, we have arrived at results that highlight the unequal terrain faced by women and dissidents in the advertising field. For this reason, we understand the importance of disseminating this information in order to generate a positive impact in terms of gender equality within the advertising industry.

That is how on Thursday, June 27, the Open University of Rosario (UAI) opened its doors for the presentation of the report “Advertising sector and gender.” The invitation came from the Director of the Advertising Career, María Virginia Beduino and one of its most committed teachers on the subject, Mariángeles Camusso who, in addition, coordinates the Advertising Observatory on Sexism of the University.

Throughout the more than two hours of the presentation, conclusions were presented that enabled the debate and intervention of the participants. Together with the institution, the proposal was to generate a space for meeting and reflection on the future scope of student employment, to discuss the current trajectories of educational spaces, as well as to learn about the experiences of those who are already working.

During the dialogue different points of view and experiences of those who make up the advertising industry and its related sectors were shared: students, workers, teachers, representatives of advertising agencies and academia.

In the presentation, emphasis was placed on the need to know and address machismo and gender inequality within the advertising industry, since research on this subject is scarce, especially with an eye toward the interior of the country.

In these spaces, where invisibility prevails and, therefore, the reproduction of gender violence and stereotypes, sexism and gender gaps in the access of women to hierarchical positions and masculinized areas were known.

We identify that women are the majority (58%) among those who graduate from advertising careers. Then, when entering the advertising agencies, we noticed that among the people who work there there is a relative parity: 49.5% of female presence and 50.5% of males.

However, inequality is perceived in vertical and horizontal segregation, since men occupy the majority of the positions of hierarchy and the highest-paid and symbolically most relevant areas. Men constitute 83.5% of the property and managerial positions in advertising agencies, 68% of business chambers and 92% of those who direct creative areas. Even in areas such as Accounts where the female presence is 67%, in most cases it is directed by men (72.5%).

The area with the greatest female presence, both among its workers and in its directorates, is Administration or Finance, more orderly in terms of hours, although less valued in terms of salaries and possibilities of promotion.

In the educational field, there are no compulsory subjects on gender and in the agencies only 15% have carried out training on the subject.

Faced with these conclusions, we emphasize the importance of generating spaces for debate in educational institutions linked to the training of advertising professionals, since they allow us to raise concerns, denaturalize inequality and think about actions for the transformation of these spaces. The institutional openness of the UAI and the commitment of its teachers to address inequalities and gender violence in the advertising industry is a notable step towards its prevention and eradication from the zero point. We invite all the actors involved in the advertising industry to advance towards the eradication of gender-based violence.

Authors

Mila Francovich

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org