Media, information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be a powerful catalyst for political, social and economic empowerment of women. Consequently the identification of the gender equality dimensions of ICTs (in terms of access, production and use) is an important step in devising strategies that would address capacity-building needs in this area in order to enhance employment opportunities for women and the potential for women’s empowerment, including participation in public life.

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (1995) clearly recognized the potential of the media to make a greater contribution to the advancement of women. The Declaration called on governments and international organizations to take action to address stereotyping of women and inequality in women’s access to and participation in all communication systems, especially the media. Therefore, UNESCO will continue to highlight the need for reflecting gender perspectives in media content and advocate for equal opportunities in the decision-making positions of media.

Integrating the gender dimension into media will be fostered by:

1. promoting gender-sensitive reporting at all levels of professional media training and journalism education;
2. developing the critical abilities of young people to evaluate and produce media content with a gender perspective, especially when fostering media and information literacy;
3. ensuring gender equality in all training activities supported by UNESCO; and
4. supporting initiatives to develop media outlets managed by both women and men.