Reporting on Gender Results

Session for PR&Outreach Specialists 18 March 2011

What do you think?

•Do we report well on our work?•Do we put people in the centre of our attention?•Do we report our gender equality results well?•How can we do our work better?•What new tools and creative solutions are available?

Overview of UNDP website

Total articles on www.undp.uz 115

Total articles with photos of men and women

67 (38 have pix of men only and 10 pix with no people )

Total articles with quotes from women

40 (55 quotes from men only and 20 no quotes)

Total articles that discuss issues affecting women and UNDP's assistance in addressing these issues 10

Tips for Gender Sensitive Communication

1) Making both women’s and men’s voice heard:

To be truly equal, women and men must be seen and heard to be equal.

-Who are beneficiaries of this intervention, event, publication?-Let them voice their feedback/comments-Interview both males and females beneficiaries, experts-Have both women and men in panels-Have women and men in photos- And increase stories about women beneficiaries and heroes!

Tips for Gender Sensitive Communication

2) Choice of language

Language is dynamic and not neutral. Words make a difference, they reinforce our beliefs, and the choice of our words has consequences.

•Traditionally, masculine nouns and pronouns used to refer to both sexes•However, increasingly, readers do not understand “man” to be synonymous with “people”•As more women appear in public realm, avoid using the language that “erases” or “misrepresents” women and contributes to gender inequality

•He s/he, they•Mankind humankind•Chairman chairperson•Businessmanbusiness manager•Fatherland native land•Mother tonguenative language•Dear Sir Dear Sir/Madam, Dear Editor•Miss/Mrs Ms.•Lady woman•Manly strong, mature•Weak half of humanity the oppostive sex•Motherly loving, warm, nurturing

•Avoid portraying women and men in stereotypical occupations or associated with certain characteristics•Before printing review your article/speech/release/publication to avoid reinforcing traditional roles of women and men or characteristics •Try to rephrase and be proactive and open-minded in your language

Tips for Gender Sensitive Communication

3) Avoid Stereotypes

Media producs play an important role in forming and thus changing perceptions about people in a society, it is crucial to promote stereotype-free communication in our daily language use.

Frequent biases about role of women in media and patronizing women in media •Primary role of women as mothers, wives, carerers, housekeepers•Women as sex objects•Women as irrational, weak, soft and male dependent•Women associated with informal sector and small business

Using social media

• Changes the way projects are conceived and implemented. Business model, not just fancy tools• Beyond traditional players. Innovation often coming from emerging markets• Low cost, high speed (from pilot to mainstream in 1-2 weeks)• “We can’t do everything in house”. Collective, distributed intelligence – collection, analysis, response• Reuse and sharing/quick replication•Abundance of data sources• Beyond words/reports > visualization/mapping/geolocation