By Hidaya Muhiden, Ethiopia Lemma and Sabrina Zurga
This blog discusses the impact that digital media has on people’s gender beliefs and values. Media consumers can play an active role in identifying and criticising content that maligns women. Reporters and media professionals must be made aware of gender issues and problems, and a system of incentives could be created for those who portray women in a positive light. Those who denigrate women should face the consequences of consumers exposing and cancelling their service. It is necessary to introduce new, innovative, decent representations of women in the media. The media can serve as both a means of oppression and a catalyst for change.
Introduction
In recent years, social media has significantly transformed communication on both a local and international scale. Through web-based software or applications, users generate, produce, and consume content, creating engaging, entertaining, and informative content for local or global communities. Social media is an ever-evolving virtual world that is continually adapting to the needs and preferences of its users.
The uses of social media are varied. Social media posts do not need to be factual, edited or reviewed before publication; hence, they are complicit in the rise of fake news and sensationalist ideas. Social media can reach a wide audience immediately. Protests and conflicts like the Arab Spring and even Trump’s Capitol Hill riots have been mobilised via social media. Disaster responses, such as Nepal’s earthquake, have been coordinated via social media, enabling rescue teams to find those in need more quickly. Social media is a powerful tool that should be responsibly used.
The media can serve as both a means of oppression and a catalyst for change. The platform has become an effective medium for capturing the attention of local and international communities to issues related to women’s rights and for motivating and encouraging government and policymakers to promote gender equality. However, the media has often been complicit in perpetuating negative stereotypes about women.
Role of Media in Women’s Empowerment
Social media has revolutionised the way we communicate and interact with one another, and it has provided new opportunities for the empowerment of women. Through social media, women can raise awareness about issues impacting their lives, share resources and success stories, and connect with other women for support and mentorship. By promoting campaigns and projects that support female empowerment, social media can serve as a powerful tool for promoting positive change.
The media can play a significant role in promoting gender equality if it highlights the accomplishments of prominent and successful women. By showcasing instances of how gender disparities have been overcome, the media can encourage individuals to incorporate these beliefs into their daily lives. As Narayana and Ahamad (2016) argue, the media plays a significant role in facilitating women’s success. The media can serve as a potent tool for empowerment and a powerful agent of change.
However, the media can also perpetuate stereotypical ideas about women and their place in society. In Ethiopia, where our project is implemented, women are often portrayed in a derogatory manner in the media. This reinforces these norms and can limit women’s potential for empowerment. The implementation of better mechanisms to ensure fair and accurate representation of gender in the media is necessary, as it is a key determinant in shaping societal perceptions of gender roles. Research on the media’s role in women’s empowerment and gender equality is significant (Lata and Jukariya, 2018).
The Benefits of Utilising Social Media for Advocacy
The use of social media for advocacy presents several advantages. Firstly, it provides a vast networking platform that allows individuals to connect with others who share the same cause. This makes it a convenient means of interacting with others and advancing a particular cause. Secondly, social media offers effective resources for educating and soliciting help from the community. This can be particularly useful in raising awareness about important issues and mobilising support for a particular cause. Moreover, social media can be used to connect with nearly all lawmakers and social media reporters, making it an effective tool for advocacy. By using social media, individuals can shape the narrative about their lives and interests, as well as bring attention to important issues.
How to advocate on social media?
It is essential to support and promote a fair and non-stereotypical representation of women in the media. Social media platforms and tools such as blogs, vlogs, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok have enabled women to become more educated, entertained, connected, capable of making decisions, and technologically literate. Advocates of gender equality should encourage the production of media content that highlights the economic empowerment of women and raises awareness of the challenges women face in achieving financial independence, including time poverty and unpaid care.
It is also essential to create a media space where women can share their stories, both positive and negative, to provide legal, economic, political, and social awareness. Even if these stories are about bullying and harassment received for posting feminist messages, they bring camaraderie and a shared passion for gender equality. Media users/consumers should be aware of their power in promoting gendered narratives. Cancelling subscriptions or unfollowing authors who publish content that denigrates women is one way to challenge such content. Media consumers have a responsibility to call out inappropriate reporting and widely share uplifting messages.
Conclusion
Social media has become an effective medium for promoting gender equality and women’s rights on both local and international scales. However, the media has often perpetuate negative stereotypes about women, and it is crucial to encourage the production of media content that highlights women’s economic empowerment and raises awareness of the challenges they face in achieving financial independence. Social media can be a powerful tool for promoting positive change by showcasing instances of how gender disparities have been overcome and highlighting the accomplishments of successful women.
It is crucial for advocates of gender equality to encourage the production of media content that highlights the economic empowerment of women and raises awareness of the challenges women face in achieving financial independence, including time poverty and unpaid care. It is also essential to create a media space where women can share their stories, both positive and negative, to provide legal, economic, political, and social awareness. Media consumers have a responsibility to call out inappropriate reporting and widely share uplifting messages.
In collaboration with our partners – WISE for capacity strengthening of key policy actors and Addis PowerHouse for running advocacy efforts – Includovate will enhance women’s economic empowerment (WEE), reduce, recognise and redistribute unpaid care in Ethiopia and strengthen the in-country coalition of key WEE champions.
Acknowledgement
This blog is a series to reflect on our learnings from a project under the Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) – East Africa Initiative. GrOW is jointly funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
References
- Rai N.K (2021)” Impact of Social Media on Women Empowerment. Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR).8(7)
- Lata, P. and Jukariya, T. (2018) “Role of media in empowering women,” International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 7(04), pp. 1618–1623
- Narayana, A. and Ahamad, T. (2016) “Role of media in accelerating women empowerment, “International Journal of Advanced Education and Research, 1(1), 16-19.