I t is abundantly clear that as far as gender is concerned, the media in southern Africa needs to work harder to fulfil its function as an educational tool. Since 1995, the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) has systematically monitored the representation of women and men in the news at five-year intervals. On a chosen day, countries around the world grade their main broadcast and print media to determine the levels of gender sensitivity in the news. The news media is seen to reflect the views of citizens across the globe. But if what is being experienced in Africa is anything to go by, it will take another century to inculcate the values of gender equality in Africa, and the global psyche in general. Little change As confirmed in the 2005 GMMP survey that was taken on February 16, only 19 per cent of the African continent’s news subjects were women, compared to 81 per cent men. This was a marginal improvement on the 17 per cent realised five years ago. In comparison, the Middle East was worse off with only 15 per cent female news subjects in the 2005 survey. The regions with the highest figures were North America and the Pacific, both at 26 per cent. These figures all fall far short of the 50-50 representation that women’s rights organisations around the world are struggling to achieve. However, that there is a rise at all in the percentages of female news subjects is an achievement. In 1995 when the GMMP was first introduced as a tool to monitor gender representation, only 17 per cent of women in the world were represented in the news. In 2005 it was 21 per cent, a small figure but significant in that there was a rise at all. The overall goal of the GMMP is to change the ingrained patterns of gender representation in the news. The Gender and Media Baseline Study (GMBS), undertaken in 2003 by Genderlinks and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), has been heavily reinforced by the latest findings of the GMMP with regards to Africa. The GMBS focused on 12 Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. In one month (September 2003) the study found that ‘equality of opportunity’ was still far from being translated into ‘equality of outcomes’ between men and women in the region. This is more so in the newsrooms. After a period of two years, the 2005 GMMP has delivered similar results. The confirmation that there has been only a slight change needs to be noted. Markedly, this change seems to be in the increased number of female reporters rather than female editors who are more empowered to influence the news. According to the GMBS study: “The media has more often than not been part of the problem rather than the solution.” Many believe that on the Beijing Platform for Action, media should have been among the first five areas of concern instead of being listed number 10. Fifteen years after the Beijing World Conference for Women, media houses in the SADC region and the rest of the world are still struggling to balance their newsrooms on gender lines. With the media purporting to be the vanguard of democracy, there is a need to see realistic fruits emerging from the countless workshops held on gender in the media. The problem of gender representation in the news and newsrooms will not go away if it is ignored. It needs capable editors to demonstrate that development relies on each individual’s contribution, including that of women. Ignoring their role in society can only lead to further So This Is Democracy? 2005 -20- Media Institute of Southern Africa