Q: Why do you believe The Global Report on Women in the News Media is needed?

CY: As a woman working as a journalist for over 10 years, I have been always amazed by the intelligence, passion and professionalism that my female colleagues illustrate in their professional careers, as well as their courage to struggle against the constraints and barriers they have to face both in their journalistic careers and in their personal lives.

…In the past decades, we have witnessed the rapid development of the news media industry and women’s tremendous contribution. For example, in China, according to the Global Media Monitoring Project 2005 China Country Report, women comprised one-third of journalists who produced the news on the surveyed day. The proportion is even higher in the TV news. Yet, almost 15 years after the 4th World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing, when the 12 critical areas of concerns were identified in the Beijing Platform for Action, including women and media in Section J, we still have little information about women’s status and their participation in the news media. That’s why I think such a survey is important.

Q: What impact do you think this project will have?

CY: This survey will give solid evidence and data on the status of women in the news media, which will be used as the advocacy tool for improving women’s status in news media.

Q: What prepared you to oversee the research for your area of the world?

CY: I used to work as a journalist for China Women’s News from 1995 to 2005 as a reporter and editor. I also worked with the TV program Half the Sky at Central China Television, Channel 1, as a consultant from 2000 to 2004. Meanwhile, I was actively involved in the Media Monitor Network for Women, the first women’s NGO founded by a group of women with similar minds in 1996 focusing on the issue of gender and media and women’s participation in the media profession. In the past decade, collaborating with other partners, women’s groups and media agencies, the Network has conducted research  and offered gender sensitivity training for journalists around China.

Serving as the country coordinator for the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) in 2000 and 2005 made me realize how global research…on such a topic would influence the transformation of media practice and empower women media practitioners. We have used the findings of the GMMP and the report on China that was generated from it in the trainings and campaigns to increase gender awareness in news media and improve women’s participation in media work. By joining Isis International, a feminist communications organization founded in 1974, I collaborate with more partners in the region on topics of mutual interest. The work of Isis International has been worldwide with a special focus on the Asia-Pacific region. As the regional coordinator [for the IWMF project], I will have an opportunity to actively participate in the empowering goal of documenting the role of women at the different levels of the media industry. [The report] will also strengthen gender analyses on the personal and professional achievements and challenges of women media practitioners.