Every year the IWMF honors brave women journalists who risk political persecution,injury and sometimes death in their efforts to expose corruption and champion human rights.

The 2012 Courage in Journalism Award and Lifetime Achievement Award winners will be announced May 3. They will be honored at Courage in Journalism events in New York on Oct. 24 and Los Angeles on Oct. 29.

With generous support from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the IWMF launched "Reporting on Agriculture and Women: Africa." The project energized the way African media cover one of the most important topics on the continent.

The IWMF helped African journalists to boost coverage of agriculture and rural development and increase women’s voices – both as journalists and as sources – in stories about agriculture

Global Research on Women

The IWMF is working on ground-breaking research on the status of women in the media worldwide. The new study, the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media, will measure the career progress of women in the news media and use the results to help advocate for change.

The IWMF also tracks past studies on women in the news media, and will draw from this prior work in compiling the Global Report, which will be published in 2011.

4-Year Africa Project

With generous support from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the IWMF launched "Reporting on Agriculture and Women: Africa." The project is energizing the way African media cover one of the most important topics on the continent.
The IWMF is helping African journalists to boost coverage of agriculture and rural development and increase women’s voices – both as journalists and as sources – in stories about agriculture

Rosemary Okello-Orlale

"...This project will debunk myths which have surrounded the status of media..."

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

RO: The project comes at a time when the media is being seen – especially in our part of the world – as a tool for development, and yet no one has ever done qualitative analysis on the status of the media, especially in terms of gender representation. A lot has been written in terms of the experiences women face while working in the media, but there is no information or data on how gender is being used in terms of human resource policy or content. Therefore, this project will debunk myths which have surrounded the status of media, give a clear road-map on the gaps that exist and offer suggestions on what can be done to make the media – which derives its authority from society – to be truly the reflection of the society.

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

RO: The project will be able to produce data that never used to exist, offer comparative analysis on the status of the media from around the world, and it will be used to for advocacy and change policies within the media houses.

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

RO: In 2005 I was the regional coordinator for WACC on the Global Media Monitoring Project and realized that even as we were looking at the media content, we needed to look further and analyze who is behind content development and what environment they are working in. I have also done a lot of media training in the region and was instrumental in introducing gender and media in East Africa. I have been able to work with the media houses as the secretary general of the Editor’s Guild to sensitize them on why gender issues matter when it comes to media content. So for me the project was long overdue, and being part of it has been a learning lesson on issues which I never knew existed.

Comments

Ramogi Ochola o.ramogi@gmail.com

Friday, June 25, 2010 5:57 AM

Ms Okello says “medical invention cannot be used to tackle a social problem”, since this will not address say, sexual harassment. Then there are all those babies who are subjected to rape, but are still too young to wear the condom. Ms Okello added that although the device had been developed in good faith, it was still gender and age biased. “What about men who are also victims of rape, and how many women will have access to it?” she asked I'm sorry i didn't know any better of contacting you, Ms Rosemary Okello, but your comments in the daily nation were not helping the innovation by Dr Sonette Ehlers as pasted above. You allege that rape and sexual harassment need to be solved together or no need trying to solve one, you go ahead and ask how access to this invention by women is gonna be enabled, how about asking yourself what we can do to make it easier to for women to access such, and if its age biased then i believe there is still a choice of not putting it, let those who believe its age biased like you not use it, those who think its not age biased let them protect themselves, let women make an informed choice rather than come up with a universal stand declare it correct. Its like you want a solution that will solve everything and everybody's problem about this topic. it will never happen, so any small step in the right direction is welcomed. Encourage baby steps and soon you'll end making great strides in solving sexual violence, take a small step first.

IWMF's PROGRAMS

Digital New Media Entrepreneurs

Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship

Courage in Journalism Awards

4-Year Africa Project

Funding HIV/AIDS Investigative Reporting

Courage in Journalism Awards

Global Research on Women

4-Year Africa Project

Funding HIV/AIDS Investigative Reporting

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Rosemary Okello-Orlale

"...This project will debunk myths which have surrounded the status of media..."

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