Gender Activities The Gender and Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) was officially launched in March 2006. MISA was the lead coordinator in the monitoring that took place in southern Africa and through this ensured that for the first time all the countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) were included. The 2006 GMMP report found that globally women constitute 21 per cent of news sources (19 per cent in southern Africa), illustrating that women’s voices are still significantly under-represented in the news compared to those of men. The GMMP showed an increase in women’s voices in nine SADC countries, namely Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Angola, Botswana, Lesotho and the Seychelles experienced a decline in women’s voices in the news. South Africa had the highest proportion of female sources in the news in SADC at 26 per cent. This figure is very telling in that it merely confirms that 74 per cent of news sources are still men and in other countries the figures were even worse. The imbalance in the statistics still challenges the principles of democracy and free speech as it implies that only a small segment of the population is given a voice. This is a challenge that MISA and its partners have to tackle in a more focused and strategic manner. Advocacy efforts have focused specifically on the gender deficiencies in the media but MISA and its partners need to situate these within the broader debates on human rights, media diversity, ethics and professionalism in the media, and media sustainability. MISA further contributed to the GMMP by sponsoring the publication of the various country reports that were launched at events throughout the region in 2006. MISA, in collaboration with the Gender and Media Southern Africa Network (GEMSA) and Gender Links, convened the second Gender and Media Summit that was held in Johannesburg in September 2006. The two-day summit brought together 224 participants made up of media practitioners, editors, media marketing executives and gender activists. The programme also featured 81 exam- Annual Report 2007 HOW DOES MAP WORK? The Southern African Editors’ Forum (SAEF), which comprises representatives from the national editors’ forums of countries in the SADC region, is the overall coordinator of MAP. The HIV & AIDS and Gender Mainstreaming Committee of SAEF works in partnership with organisations in the region that promote freedom of expression and media professionalism in the implementation of MAP. Lead agencies coordinate the work of the different sub-sectors, including raising funds for, and managing activities. The sub sectors and lead agencies are: · · · · · Newsroom policies: Gender Links and MISA through GEMSA; Ethics: AED; Training: PANOS; Research and monitoring: MMP; Information and Resources: SAFAIDS. The lead agencies convene reference groups comprising the various partner organsations. These include: the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa, Gender Links, Gender and Media Southern Africa Network (GEMSA), Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ), Inter Press Service (IPS), Media Monitoring Project (MMP), SADC NGO Consortium, SAFAIDS, Wits School of Journalism, Zambian Institute of Mass Communication (ZAMCOM), Rhodes University, NSJ. SAEF will annually convene the Media Partners Consultation where feedback will be provided on progress made in achieving the objectives of the Media Action Plan (MAP). 49