Women´s Media Pool at Beijing + 10
A Good Beginning for Further Join Coverage of Women´s Voices

                                                                                                                                                                         María Suárez Toro,
                                                                                                                                                                         RIF-FIRE/WMP
 

The Women’s Media Pool (WMP) ended up articulating the work of 60 participating organizations and networks from all corners of the globe whose common objective at "Beijing + 10" was to produce media reports and/or reach other media about the full spectrum of the Beijing Platform for Action (PfA). "We heard in our cyberdialogues that most women learned about the PfA from alternative media venues or networks in the hands of women, so our work today, 10 years after the Beijing World Conference on Women, is crucial in order to keep the information flowing" said Coleen Lowe, Executive Director Genderlinks told FIRE. Cyberlink daily chats allowed women back in their countries to participate in the Beijing + 10 deliberations in New York by interacting with activists and delegates to the UN 10 year evaluation of the PfA. The chats were one of many types of media - from community, internet and public raido, newspapers in at least five languages, elecronic networks and portals, TV, newsletters and satellite distribution used by The Pool to disseminate the voices of women regarding the 12 critical areas of the PfA including violence against women, women´s political paticipation, sexual and reproductive health and rights, feminization of poverty and others.

Some WMP organizations and networks travelled to New York for the meeting at the United Nations headquarters; others stayed elsewhere in their respective countries, but all were connected by means of coverage of the event with the information and networking flow articulated by the Pool.

An electronic discussion list provided the almost "real time" flux of pictures, text and audio files, as well as media features produced in Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and other languages. Said one participant in Chile´s Portal Mujeres Hoy: "Amazing, I wrote to the Pool asking for pictures and only a few minutes later we had so many of them! With initiatives like this it is so easy to do our work even though we were not able to be in New York." Jennifer Radloff of APC WNSP and Margaret Thompson of FIRE provided most of the daily photographs for The Pool. The pictures provided the graphic "text" of the many written features portrayed in women´s web pages and newspapers.

The WMP web page at www.womensmediapool.org became a virtual conglomerate of women’s media and communications efforts. Webalizer Program used for statgistical analysis account to the fact tha the the web page of The Pool received 60,978 hits in the two weeks between February 28 and March 11, 2005 during the 49th Session of the Committee of the Status of Women (CSW) in charge of the evaluation. "Hits" came from all regions of the world, from 53 countries, top 10 in order of the number of hits, being USA, Costa Rica, México, Canda, Argentina, Spain, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgiunm, France, Uruguay, Dominica Republic, Perú and Italy. Visits, which account to unique IPs that "visited" the page (technincal definition: "visits" occur when some remote site makes a request for a page on your server for the first time) amounted to 1,915 during Beijing + 10, each one visiting an average of 20 files per visit, and making 32 hits every time they came in to the page. An average of 158 visits and 5, 302 hits per day happened. (Full statistics and futher interpretations will form part of the cualitative and cuantivative study being donde by FIRE.)

The "hits" are but one expression as to what visitors to the online Pool were looking for. The e-mails received provide an in depth idea as to what visitors connected for. Such is the case of a BBC radio producer, who wrote: "It's June Christie here from BBC World Service in London. On Wednesday of this week we are recording a special edition of the BBC World Service's women's programme "Everywoman" - the programme will be examining the status of women around the world 10 years after the Beijing Women's Conference (the news peg of course is the Beijing + 10 review which is currently getting under way in New York). Anyway I wondered if you would like to take part in our discussion..." Another example was the Women Farmers' Advancement Network -Kano-Nigeria, who wrote to the Pool to say that "we want to join the list and are willing to use the local language (Hausa) for the sub-saharan African women to share issues of concern to women so that the rural ones can also learn and give their input. Regards, Salamatu Garba Coordinator- WOFAN."

Others used the Pool to get information for their own productions, such as the Colombian journalist, Guillermo González Bustamante, who wrote, "I am not a woman but I produce community radio and TV in Pereira Risaralda, Colombia and would like to cover the Conference though your information." Another was Nurgul Djanaeva, who wrote: "I am from Kyrgystan. I represent the Forum of women's NGOs of Kyrgyzstan and besides we work for Central Asia..we have an intention to write reports and send them in Russian to our network members throughout our region. It would be great if we are part of your initiative. If I am in NY (I have visa problems rights now) I plan to send reports...and they will be broadcast in our national radio station...if you agree that we join your initiative - plus it is in russian - vast outreach - I shall be glad to meet you in New York."

Many others used the information to connect, as is the case of a South African mainstream press journalist who wrote: "Hi, I am a senior journalist at a daily newspaper in Cape Town, South Africa. I read about womensmediapool on www.womensnet.org.za. Is the pool only for US women? Or can I become a member. I see there is a section on your webpage called "Gender discrimination and poverty". That is something the vast majority of women in my country have to deal with every day. Most of them also cannot negotiate about safe sex and contraception and that is how they get HIV/AIDS. AIDS and gender equality are closely linked here.This is just one of the issues facing women here. Would like to hear from you how I can join and make a contribution. Regards Elsabe Brits, Diepteverslaggewer/In-depth Reporter Die Burger."

The WMP "took place" in many places due to its decentralized and combined "real-virtual" concept, which included the amalgamation of different workspaces in New York provided by the International Women´s Tribune Centre (IWTC) for APC WNSP, APWW, FIRE and FEMLINK, plus meeting space and phone line for the Pool´s coordinations and meetings. UNIFEM central offices provided space for the Cyberdialogues and the GEM daily newspaper. The UN provided space and computers for jounralists in the Pool on the third floor of UN Building, as well as for the 154 other journalists who came to the UN to cover the meeting. But the Pool also took place elsewhere, in the NGO offices in the countries of the WMP participants, the newsrooms of journalists back home, the web pages that linked to and from the Pool´s web page, the radio stations that were using and producing information, the TV stations, and the internet cafes in countries where women used collective access to access the Pool´s web page, etc.

One Pool web user in Australia, Anne Walker said: "There has been an impressive line-up of women's media organizations and networks from every world region at the Beijing Plus 10 meetings in New York, and they have joined together to form a Women's Media Pool, with headquarters at the International Women's Tribune Centre opposite the UN. A daily newspaper, daily online bulletins, web broadcasting, radio interviews and constant internet access has kept the pressure on government delegations and the UN to live up to promises made in Beijing 1995, while also keeping the global women's movement in touch with proceedings. On behalf of those of us who were not in New York for these two weeks, thanks to everyone involved. We would have been totally in the dark without you. The mainstream media has not covered a thing, at least not here in Australia, except for a passing mention of the US attempt to corrupt the declaration with their anti-abortion amendment during the first week."

The Pool participants also organized their own effort to lobby for the evaluation of Section “J” of the Platform about Women and the Media, which had been absent in the evaluation. The lobbying strategy was coordinated by the International Women’s Tribune Center (IWTC). It included a letter sent to Carolyn Hannan, head of the Division for the Adavancement of Women (DAW). The letter, sigend by media organizations and networks that are involved in communications, brings to the attention of DAW the fact that there was a non-inclusion of women and media in the online discussions organized by the UN Division for the Advancement of Women in preparation for the 49 CSW Session and 10 year review of the PfA. "We feel this does not reflect the significance that the CSW and DAW have given to these issues especially in the 47th session of the CSW where women and media and ICTs was one of the thematic issues." After highlighting what is in Section J of the PfA, what has been the contribution of women in media in the last 10 years, and the results of the inclusion of the issue at the 47th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in 2003, where a set of agreed conclusions were adopted on the participation and access of women to media, to information and communication technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women; the inclusion of the issue in the Millenium Delcaration and the call for gender equalitilty and the WSIS Declaration of Principles and Action Plan that reflect a commitment to gender equality. "We believe that it is critical to keep women, media, and ICT issues on the agenda of the Beijing + 10 review to avoid the undermining of the achievements and the continuing efforts of women’s media and ICT activists, advocates and practitioners to contribute to the dialogue during the 49th CSW session. We would like to call on your good office to underscore the role of media and ICTs in all of the parallel sessions that you are organizing and in all the official interventions that you will be making in during the 49th CSW session."

Surprisingly enough, although the "J" section was absent in the Beijing + 10 global evaluation (although included in some regional reports), at the international level a feature about it, produced by FIRE for the Women´s Media Pool, turned out to be the one piece that was multiplied the most in media venues. "Where is Women´s J Spot?" made it to CIMAC Press Agency in México, Mujeres Hoy Portal in Latin America, PlanetWire in the USA, FIRE internet radio, PULSAR´s community radio news agency for Latin America and the Caribbean, AMARC international, GEM newspaper in the Conference, BBC Radio, The World Conservation Union (IUCN) web page, Mujeres en Red Portal in Spain, among others. One conclusion by WMP participants in their evaluation of the coverage of Beijing + 10 was the need to concentrate efforts, not only in giving voice to women in the different conferences and activities, but also in always organizing to lobby and do advocacy about their status as women`s media. They agreed to organize such combined efforts in the upcomming World Summit on the Information Society to take place in Tunisia in November, 2005.

The WMP also covered the campaigns that were launched in the streets and in media on the 8th of March, International Women’s Day, such as the World March of Women’s presentation of the Women’s Charter for Humanity, and Code Pink’s march. Journalists and media practitioners also disseminated information about the launching of the Campaign for the Eradication of Poverty by the Association Women and Development (AWID) and “Beijing and Beyond”, an accountability Campaign by Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and other networks. Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE) oganized a full day webcast on International Women´s Day which shared one hour with the Women’s Network of the World Association of Community Radios (AMARC) for distribution in community radios wordwide.

Utilizing interactivity in real time in the Internet, the African Gender and Media (GEM) organized daily “cyberdialogues” featuring topics such as: women´s human rights, economy ans sustaninable development, gender and governance, HIV-AIDS, gender based violence,media and communications, looking ahead: structure and processes, including institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women (BPFA) and the development of a global partnership for development (MDG), among others. Cyberlink virtual dialogues created a unique convergence among activists in different parts of the world, but also in media, as their daily results were fed into mainsteam media, community and internt radio, conference newspaper and workshops and panels during Beijing + 10.

Gender Links-GEM, South Africa, together with the African Women and Child Feature service (AWAC) from Kenya also produced a daily newspaper in electronic and paper format distributed at the meeting and worldwide in its electronic format and the many "multipliers" it had in radio, TV, newspaper features and distribution networks, such as PlaNetWire daily service for mainstream media. Every morning the staff of 13 producers themselves distributed the newspaper to conference participants who eagerly sat down to "find out" what they has exprienced the day before and could expect that day. Others, running to and from events, made sure they put away copies of the paper to be able to read them back home and take it to their organizaitons.

In a journalistic alliance to break through to mainstream media in México, CIMAC, GIRE, the National Network of Journalists and the Tri National Network of Journalists (México, USA and Canda) produced daily reports featuring all issues related to interests for a Mexican and North American audience. The same was done by the Phillipines Women´s Feature Service (WFS) who produced daily features especially targeted at mainstream media in the Asian region. The Young Latin American and Caribbean Youth Network for Reproductive and Sexual Rights (REDLAC) had a young journalist from Brazil doing specialized coverage of young women´s activities during Beijing + 10.

From and to Asia, the Asia Pacific Women's Watch APWW reported daily on the political landscape ten years after Beijing. It produced ten stories of women's empowerment (individualand group) byparticipating in the Beijing processes. Daily reporting to give women back in the region a sense of the progress in the discussions will also be produced. Asian Pacific Women's Watch is a co-alition of different Asia Pacific partners coming together to work jointly on regional issues. It monitors the Beijing Platform For Action (BPfA). Women´s Feature Service (WFS) in the Phillipines also produced eatures for press and elecronic distribution and newspapers.

The APC WNSP women organized a series of panel presentations about women and media, especially ICTs, that are relevant not only to the Beijing + 10, but also to the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to take place in Tunisia this year. A panel presentation "Prosperous women: connecting and networking out of poverty" featured APC Africa Women Coordinator Jenny Radloff presented "Creative responses to the challenges of utilising ICTs for women's empowerment in Africa". Other themes of the panel included the the use of ICTS for rural girls to grow into prosperity, women's access as the center of ICT policy, and ICTs and women's empowerment in Iraq. Organisers: National Alliance of Women's Organisations (NAWO). APC WNSP organized the panel "What's gender got to do with ICT policies?" where it launched its new Gender and ICT Policy Monitor, a tool to help women's organisations make the connections between gender and ICT policy, and influence change at the national level. Panelists shared examples of grassroots women influencing local and global policy, the intersection of gender and ICT policy with B+10 and WSIS, women and Free and Open Source Software, and why women's rights advocates should be interested in UNESCO's focus on cultural diversity. And "Exploitation and Resistance: Intersections of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Trafficking and Violence against Women" was a roundtable where APC-WNSP presented ways ICTs intersect with trafficking in women and violence against women in different world regions. Speakers looked into how ICTs are utilised strategically to stop violence against women and trafficking of women and girls, as well as explain how ICTs affect domestic violence, sexual assault & coercion, health, and trafficking of women.

ISIS WICCE (Isis-Women's International Cross Cultural Exchange) put together a series of presentations using various strategies, including the exchange of skills and experiences, the documentation of women's lives, information sharing and networking to promote the empowerment of women, and the flow of information and ideas leading to gender sensitivity and equal opportunities at all levels.

The International Women´s Tribune Center (IWTC) organized a series of breakfast fora that provide authors, editors, or the key people behind the publication a venue to interact with the audience. Bagels and books turned out to be an intimate and relaxed conversations between the people behind the publication of the book and those who are interested in the subject matter or the works of the authors or editors in general. Bagels and books will have the following themes: 1st March– the Women’s Movement; 4th March– human rights and peace building; 7th March media and ICTs.The Women’s Media Pool showcased the evolution of women’s media and communications in the last decade since the Fourth Women’s Conference in Beijing, not only in its further integration of electronic information and communications that allowed the Pool´s initiative to travel and be located globally, but also because it is comprised of women’s media that were formed in the decade since 1995, such as CIMAC and Women´sEnews, both women’s press agencies, Asia Pacific Women´s Watch (APWW) with its strong media component, web portals such as WRHNet, Mujeres Hoy and Modemmujer among others, FIRE´s internet radio station and women’s newspapers such as GEM´s (and Digitallfuture not present in New York but there in spirit). Also included in the media created since 1995 are a suitcase radio such as FEMLINK in the Fiji Islands and women’s electronic magazines such as “Women” in Cuba.

Likewise, women´s media and communications networks that existed before 1995 such as APC WNSP, IWTC, FEMNET, The International Information Center and Archives for the Women's Movement (IIAV) and “Mujer Salud” of the Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network and others, have become stronger in purpose and scope even in the midst of decreasing funding gor women in media in general. Also, women´s NGOs have undertaken their own communications work as part of their outreach and networking, such as WEDO, IWHC, MADRE and others. This phenomenon is an expression of how women’s activist organizations and networks have embraced the Internet and electronic communications to transcend strict specialization in media, assuming their own information and communication work as they exercise of the human right to communicate consecrated in the international human rights framework. The role of another organization in The Pool the CCMC (Communicatons Consortium), was to organize the communications work of some non profit organizaitons, in this case the "Beijing and Beyond Campaign" and UNFPA´s activities. Alongside their own work, they distributed Pool’s productions among other productions, and helped position them in media in their country, the USA.

Overall, the WMP achieved the following: it connected language groups though translation and cross fertilization of information and productions, it linked regions in media and workshop activities, it provided sharing of infrastructure for the media work, it identified common objectives for the future of the Pool, it created a virtual information pool, it distributed information about women’s media initiatives at Beijing + 10, it created a web page of the Pool that has become a permanent resource to be enhanced in other coverages such as WSIS and others, it raised awareness and lobbied for further commitment about section “J” of the Platform for Action about Women and Media, it joined women journalists and communicators in their countries with women at the United Nations who were participating in the process, and raised awareness in the U.N. Department of Public Information about the Women’s Media Pool as a media and commuications initiative. It did all of its work with the regular resources that each organizations had for their own work, in other words, The Pool worked with no special funding for it to operate.

The final evaluation by WMP paticipants called for the continuity of the Women´s Media Pool; left the general coordination of the Pool in the hands of FIRE for the next two years; called for the creation of a calendar for events to be covered this year, among them WSIS under the specific coordination of APC WNSP, the Millenium Development Goals meeting at the United Nations, under the specific coordination of the IWTC, and the X Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Encuentro in the hands of Pool participant, Fernanda Gigolín; commissioned FIRE to do an evaluation and report of impact, and assessed how to improve some of tasks in future coverages, especially web resources.It also agreed to do permanent follow-up of policiy regarding Women in the Media in all events, especially MDG and WSIS. It agreed to request for funds for the Pool, only purposes of achieving a regonal balance of journalists and communicators in events to be covered, and for cross fertilizing among regions and languages though translation of features produced by the Pool´s participants. It agreed to promote the ethics of information sharing by requesting due credit to be given to sources, but calling on people, media venues and organizations and networks to use and distribute the information produced by Pool participants. Sias Juliana Omale of GEM newspaper"The Women´s Media Pool was for me the best experience here, women were so generous in sharing their informaiton and recources, and were so warm and so caring, that it felt good to be with all anywhere."