Alexandria-- The Swedish Institute, in collaboration with the League of Arab States and the Center of Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR), held a seminar Monday about Arab media and gender. Around 35 people, mostly journalists, academics, and representatives of international and Arab organizations, attended the two-day seminar. The event, which was titled "Arab Media from a Gender Perspective: Trends and Operational Tools," produced a document that aims to improve gender representation in the media. The document was prepared by the CAWTAR, with the support from the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organizations. Amina Shafiq, veteran Al-Ahram journalist and a member of the National Council For Women, helped prepare the document. “The diversity we have in media [with the proliferation of the privately owned media] converges when it comes to stereotyping women as powerless creatures," she said, stressing the need for change. Mounia Bel Afia, a Moroccan media consultant who supervised document's preparation, told Al-Masry Al-Youm is optimistic that it will have an impact. “I think this document will establish a strategic vision," Bel Afia said. "We need accumulation of knowledge in the form of reports and training. This accumulated knowledge should be brought together, linking vision with practice and general perceptions." The document says, "This document is an attempt to take advantage of the major conclusions and recommendations that have been written about, and to shape perceptions that take into account the geographical spread of the Arab world, its intellectual and cultural diversity, and the similarities and differences in the circumstances of its countries." According to Atidel Mejbri, information and communication officer at CAWTAR, “There are imbalances in research [in the Arab world] when dealing with gender issues. There are even imbalances in the way we think about some of these issues. So, I think this document will create controversial knowledge, which would be progress.”
