Date: 19/02/2004
Source: Department of Justice and Constitutional development
Title: C Gillwald: Launch of the "Making every voice count" video
ADDRESS BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, MS CHERYL GILLWALD (MP), AT THE LAUNCH OF THE "MAKING EVERY VOICE COUNT" VIDEO, 19 February 2004
Programme Director
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for inviting me to this important event. It is a pleasure to be invited to support your excellent work and it gives me an opportunity to acknowledge your significant contribution to the emancipation of the women of South Africa.
In the run up to South Africa's third democratic national elections, nothing could be more important than this theme: "Making every voice count." This title captures the need to ensure that all South Africans have a say in the democratic process. The true test of a democracy is the extent to which its citizenry engages and participates in governance processes. Apathy and disinterest are the greatest enemies of the democratic order. It is people who breathe life into democracies and give them soul and substance. We have such recent historical evidence of how individuals and groups can and do make a difference, even in the face of daunting and repressive resistance and force. We should never forget and we should never let our children forget the "sheroes" and heroes that risked life and limb in the struggle for a society free of racism, sexism, domination and patriarchy.
Elections this year will coincide with the Ten Years of Democracy celebrations. It is a momentous milestone for our fledgling democracy. As we celebrate this landmark, it is critical that we continue to reach out to ensure that every voice is heard. I was puzzled and a little exasperated by our indifferent national response to the voter-registration drive. Do you remember in 1994 how we clamoured to participate in our first democratic elections? Will we ever forget those pictures of queues of South Africans camping on sidewalks for a chance to make themselves heard?
These elections are no different - in fact, as our democracy grows and develops, it will become more reliant on the support and participation of the broad masses of our people in urban and rural communities of all nine of our Provinces, from Limpopo Province in the North to the Western Cape in the South.
For too long vast majority of South Africans were silenced by a regime that systematically obliterated dissenting opinion and attempted to eradicate all notions of equality, social justice and human dignity. We must embrace our rights and test their mettle. And we must do so by engaging the issues and questions that populate the social and human development agenda in our country. The door has been opened - let's keep it that way for our children and our children's children.
The findings of the regional report of the Gender and Media Baseline Study, a joint initiative of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and Gender Links, are a telling indicator that there is still much work to be done if we are to achieve the kind of democracy envisaged by our Constitution. For example, the way that women and men are portrayed by the media has resulted in a new form of censorship that despite its unofficial status is almost as insidious and as exclusionary as the hob-nailed boot approach of the pre-1994 era.
The voices of women are barely heard. And when they are, women are described either as victims of violence or as sex objects. One is forced to ask the question: "Where are all those well-rounded female human beings with hopes, dreams and aspirations, similar to those of their male compatriots?" We do not readily find them in the newspapers and magazines that clutter the bookshelves in shops and news agencies.
"Making every voice count" is not just about problems, it is also very much about solutions. The video is powerful testimony to the growing activism around Southern Africa on gender and the media. It is a statement that the media is not just there to report what is, but also what could be. It is a statement that there can be no claim to freedom of expression when half of the population is effectively silenced.
I am therefore privileged to have been part of a campaign that in a very practical sense showed how the media and gender activists can work together for social change: the Sixteen Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. I personally visited and met with several editors in various media houses. We were not asking them for "good stories" during the Sixteen Days Campaign, but rather for more in-depth, analytical pieces that cast more light on the role that women can and do play in our new democratic order. With a few exceptions we received excellent co-operation.
I would particularly like to pay tribute to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), and to Judy Nwokedi, head of public broadcasting, and Sandy McCowen, the reporter who covered the Sixteen days with depth and insight. Ms McCowen sought to get behind the statistics, to talk to those affected and those who are trying to make a difference. This is an example of the powerful force for change that can be created when activists and the media work together.
I understand that Gender Links has made another video, a case study on gender and media activism based on the Sixteen Day Campaign that will be shown, along with a compilation of SABC clips, at a review of the Sixteen Day coverage tomorrow. I am delighted that Government Communications will also form part of that panel.
It is also fitting that the SABC should be hosting this launch and the meeting of the South African Gender and Media Network (SAGEM) tomorrow. The role of the SABC as public broadcaster is an important one and its obligation to serve the public interest is paramount. And the public that I am referring to is one that consists of both women and men. The SABC and other media groups in this country have an enormous role to play and responsibility - in promoting gender equality in the media.
So where do we go from here? There are some important dates coming up on our calendar that I would like to flag. The 8th of March is International Women's Day. Globally, there is a long-standing "Women Make the News" campaign that is observed on this day in which women take over the news business - they create it, edit it and produce it on that day! In short women are the news - and that is as it should be.
Last year, when Gender Links and the Media Institute of Southern Africa released the GMBS, they adopted the theme: "Women and Men Make the News." I like that idea. Society is made up of women and men and it is critical that we reflect this in the media. One of the great lessons of the 16 Days Campaign is that we need to reach out more to men and bring them along as our partners. We are not going to make the same mistakes as our brothers did in the past. We will not exclude, denigrate or defile them. Rather, we will embrace, respect and welcome them to the liberation they cannot achieve with out us anyway! Nelson Mandela said it as it is: A society cannot be free until its women are free.
At its Annual General Meeting in June last year, the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) declared this as the year in which it would make a conscious effort to bring gender balance and fairness to reporting. SANEF set 8th March as a benchmark for measuring progress towards achieving that. I look forward to SANEF's self- assessment. I am also reliably informed that SANEF is conducting a gender audit of its newsrooms to be released on the 8th of March. This is an excellent initiative. It also pleasing to hear that SANEF is working together with SAGEM on a directory of women's contacts. What a great idea! Let us never again hear that lame excuse: "But there are no women to talk to"!
On the SAGEM side, I have already been approached to sign up for the "Strip the Back Page Campaign" during the week of 8 March. I know this is going to get the talk shows going and I'm happy to add my voice to this campaign. It is not about limiting freedom of expression. It is about enriching it. How boring, it to see women portrayed again and again as physical accoutrements - unrelated in any way to the advert message and used only for decoration and innuendo. How dangerous, in a society such as ours, with its high levels of gender violence, for women to be perpetually projected as mere objects for men's sexual pleasure - as eye candy for male titillation! I am not being a puritanical do-gooder here. Everyone has the right to pleasure - both men and women alike. But we do need to be careful how the source of that pleasure is packaged and presented to a cross-section of our society. We should avoid at all costs, providing material upon which old, sexist stereotypes are perpetuated.
Women have the right to be heard and seen in all their diversity. They have a right to be seen and heard on all issues about which they have views. SAGEM is asking for the space to show editors how this might be done! I challenge every editor in South Africa to give this idea a try, and to report back honestly what the effect is. Who knows, we may even be on the verge of discovering new ways to make money here, considering that over half of media consumers are women!
Then of course, there are the elections on April 14th and the Ten Years of Democracy celebrations to which I alluded earlier. According to the GMBS, women in SA constitute 30 percent of MPs, yet only 8 percent of the politicians whose voices are heard in the media. I should be careful not to be seen to be promoting my own interests here, especially with an election a mere two months away! But, honestly, this statistic does not speak well for the new SA and the strides made in ensuring better representation for women in our national legislature.
As the video we just saw reminds us, let us not sit back just because that is what it is like in the rest of the world. There is no country in the world like SA. Let us rise to the challenge. Let us make every voice count. And let us count if it does. I am informed that the Media Monitoring Project (MMP) and Gender Advocacy Project (GAP) will be monitoring the elections from a gender perspective. I look forward to seeing that report.
Finally, let me encourage all of you to take a look at (and buy!) a copy of Gender Link's groundbreaking new study: "Ringing up the Changes: Gender in Southern African Politics" on display outside this room. I have personally read this book. The book is written in a friendly and accessible style, with stunning pictures and illustrations. It is a reminder, if ever one was needed, that making every voice count is not just a matter of being politically correct. It is essential to democracy: government for the people, by the people: not by men, for men.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
19 February 2004
Source: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (http://www.doj.gov.za)
Source: Department of Justice and Constitutional development
Title: C Gillwald: Launch of the "Making every voice count" video
ADDRESS BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, MS CHERYL GILLWALD (MP), AT THE LAUNCH OF THE "MAKING EVERY VOICE COUNT" VIDEO, 19 February 2004
Programme Director
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for inviting me to this important event. It is a pleasure to be invited to support your excellent work and it gives me an opportunity to acknowledge your significant contribution to the emancipation of the women of South Africa.
In the run up to South Africa's third democratic national elections, nothing could be more important than this theme: "Making every voice count." This title captures the need to ensure that all South Africans have a say in the democratic process. The true test of a democracy is the extent to which its citizenry engages and participates in governance processes. Apathy and disinterest are the greatest enemies of the democratic order. It is people who breathe life into democracies and give them soul and substance. We have such recent historical evidence of how individuals and groups can and do make a difference, even in the face of daunting and repressive resistance and force. We should never forget and we should never let our children forget the "sheroes" and heroes that risked life and limb in the struggle for a society free of racism, sexism, domination and patriarchy.
Elections this year will coincide with the Ten Years of Democracy celebrations. It is a momentous milestone for our fledgling democracy. As we celebrate this landmark, it is critical that we continue to reach out to ensure that every voice is heard. I was puzzled and a little exasperated by our indifferent national response to the voter-registration drive. Do you remember in 1994 how we clamoured to participate in our first democratic elections? Will we ever forget those pictures of queues of South Africans camping on sidewalks for a chance to make themselves heard?
These elections are no different - in fact, as our democracy grows and develops, it will become more reliant on the support and participation of the broad masses of our people in urban and rural communities of all nine of our Provinces, from Limpopo Province in the North to the Western Cape in the South.
For too long vast majority of South Africans were silenced by a regime that systematically obliterated dissenting opinion and attempted to eradicate all notions of equality, social justice and human dignity. We must embrace our rights and test their mettle. And we must do so by engaging the issues and questions that populate the social and human development agenda in our country. The door has been opened - let's keep it that way for our children and our children's children.
The findings of the regional report of the Gender and Media Baseline Study, a joint initiative of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and Gender Links, are a telling indicator that there is still much work to be done if we are to achieve the kind of democracy envisaged by our Constitution. For example, the way that women and men are portrayed by the media has resulted in a new form of censorship that despite its unofficial status is almost as insidious and as exclusionary as the hob-nailed boot approach of the pre-1994 era.
The voices of women are barely heard. And when they are, women are described either as victims of violence or as sex objects. One is forced to ask the question: "Where are all those well-rounded female human beings with hopes, dreams and aspirations, similar to those of their male compatriots?" We do not readily find them in the newspapers and magazines that clutter the bookshelves in shops and news agencies.
"Making every voice count" is not just about problems, it is also very much about solutions. The video is powerful testimony to the growing activism around Southern Africa on gender and the media. It is a statement that the media is not just there to report what is, but also what could be. It is a statement that there can be no claim to freedom of expression when half of the population is effectively silenced.
I am therefore privileged to have been part of a campaign that in a very practical sense showed how the media and gender activists can work together for social change: the Sixteen Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. I personally visited and met with several editors in various media houses. We were not asking them for "good stories" during the Sixteen Days Campaign, but rather for more in-depth, analytical pieces that cast more light on the role that women can and do play in our new democratic order. With a few exceptions we received excellent co-operation.
I would particularly like to pay tribute to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), and to Judy Nwokedi, head of public broadcasting, and Sandy McCowen, the reporter who covered the Sixteen days with depth and insight. Ms McCowen sought to get behind the statistics, to talk to those affected and those who are trying to make a difference. This is an example of the powerful force for change that can be created when activists and the media work together.
I understand that Gender Links has made another video, a case study on gender and media activism based on the Sixteen Day Campaign that will be shown, along with a compilation of SABC clips, at a review of the Sixteen Day coverage tomorrow. I am delighted that Government Communications will also form part of that panel.
It is also fitting that the SABC should be hosting this launch and the meeting of the South African Gender and Media Network (SAGEM) tomorrow. The role of the SABC as public broadcaster is an important one and its obligation to serve the public interest is paramount. And the public that I am referring to is one that consists of both women and men. The SABC and other media groups in this country have an enormous role to play and responsibility - in promoting gender equality in the media.
So where do we go from here? There are some important dates coming up on our calendar that I would like to flag. The 8th of March is International Women's Day. Globally, there is a long-standing "Women Make the News" campaign that is observed on this day in which women take over the news business - they create it, edit it and produce it on that day! In short women are the news - and that is as it should be.
Last year, when Gender Links and the Media Institute of Southern Africa released the GMBS, they adopted the theme: "Women and Men Make the News." I like that idea. Society is made up of women and men and it is critical that we reflect this in the media. One of the great lessons of the 16 Days Campaign is that we need to reach out more to men and bring them along as our partners. We are not going to make the same mistakes as our brothers did in the past. We will not exclude, denigrate or defile them. Rather, we will embrace, respect and welcome them to the liberation they cannot achieve with out us anyway! Nelson Mandela said it as it is: A society cannot be free until its women are free.
At its Annual General Meeting in June last year, the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) declared this as the year in which it would make a conscious effort to bring gender balance and fairness to reporting. SANEF set 8th March as a benchmark for measuring progress towards achieving that. I look forward to SANEF's self- assessment. I am also reliably informed that SANEF is conducting a gender audit of its newsrooms to be released on the 8th of March. This is an excellent initiative. It also pleasing to hear that SANEF is working together with SAGEM on a directory of women's contacts. What a great idea! Let us never again hear that lame excuse: "But there are no women to talk to"!
On the SAGEM side, I have already been approached to sign up for the "Strip the Back Page Campaign" during the week of 8 March. I know this is going to get the talk shows going and I'm happy to add my voice to this campaign. It is not about limiting freedom of expression. It is about enriching it. How boring, it to see women portrayed again and again as physical accoutrements - unrelated in any way to the advert message and used only for decoration and innuendo. How dangerous, in a society such as ours, with its high levels of gender violence, for women to be perpetually projected as mere objects for men's sexual pleasure - as eye candy for male titillation! I am not being a puritanical do-gooder here. Everyone has the right to pleasure - both men and women alike. But we do need to be careful how the source of that pleasure is packaged and presented to a cross-section of our society. We should avoid at all costs, providing material upon which old, sexist stereotypes are perpetuated.
Women have the right to be heard and seen in all their diversity. They have a right to be seen and heard on all issues about which they have views. SAGEM is asking for the space to show editors how this might be done! I challenge every editor in South Africa to give this idea a try, and to report back honestly what the effect is. Who knows, we may even be on the verge of discovering new ways to make money here, considering that over half of media consumers are women!
Then of course, there are the elections on April 14th and the Ten Years of Democracy celebrations to which I alluded earlier. According to the GMBS, women in SA constitute 30 percent of MPs, yet only 8 percent of the politicians whose voices are heard in the media. I should be careful not to be seen to be promoting my own interests here, especially with an election a mere two months away! But, honestly, this statistic does not speak well for the new SA and the strides made in ensuring better representation for women in our national legislature.
As the video we just saw reminds us, let us not sit back just because that is what it is like in the rest of the world. There is no country in the world like SA. Let us rise to the challenge. Let us make every voice count. And let us count if it does. I am informed that the Media Monitoring Project (MMP) and Gender Advocacy Project (GAP) will be monitoring the elections from a gender perspective. I look forward to seeing that report.
Finally, let me encourage all of you to take a look at (and buy!) a copy of Gender Link's groundbreaking new study: "Ringing up the Changes: Gender in Southern African Politics" on display outside this room. I have personally read this book. The book is written in a friendly and accessible style, with stunning pictures and illustrations. It is a reminder, if ever one was needed, that making every voice count is not just a matter of being politically correct. It is essential to democracy: government for the people, by the people: not by men, for men.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
19 February 2004
Source: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (http://www.doj.gov.za)
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