This workshop explores the UNESCO Gender Sensitive Indicators for Media and introduces a newly-prepared gender curriculum to Australian journalism academics. As UNESCO's Gender, Media and ICTs: New approaches for research, education & training syllabus notes, for the past 30 years, women have been in the majority in journalism and communication classes. However that majority has not yet translated into a noticeable change in the gender patterns of either media content or media decision-making structures. As such UNESCO's materials set out a clear case for the “urgent need to equip a new generation of journalists, media and communication professionals who are gender-aware in their workplaces and gender-sensitive in the content they produce ” (p. 28).
In this workshop, presenters Prof Lisa French and Dr Alex Wake, will discuss ways in which academics can be role models for shaping progressive attitudes to gender. As North (2010) noted in her examination of journalism curricula in Australia, many journalism educators “are not aware of, interested in, or informed about gender issues in relation to journalism production and media content. Nor do they have a good understanding of the breadth, history and importance of the scholarship” (p. 112). She further noted that “journalism educators teach what they know and what they are most comfortable with – politically and culturally” (p. 104). The UNESCO resources will help educators who are keen to question gender stereotypes to improve outcomes for their students and graduates.
