The indicators aim to facilitate gender equality and women's empowerment in and through the media. The indicators fall into two categories: Category A measures actions to foster equality within media organizations such as gender balance at the decision-making level, gender equality in work and working conditions, and equal pay; Category B assesses gender portrayals in media content particularly, in the news and advertisements. The assessment allows media organizations to develop necessary policies and strategies and monitor progress towards gender equality goals.

The media in Viet Nam has increasingly played an important role in promoting gender equality with almost all the media devoting time slots or columns to women’s development and other issues. Representation of women in both media management and content has improved considerably. According to statistics from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in 2013, nearly 30% of media professionals are working in more than 700 media organizations from Central to local levels.

Viet Nam’s joining of the UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and promulgation of the Law on Gender Equality, Law on Family and Marriage have shown its commitments to gender equality. Mr. Nguyen Thai Thien, Deputy Director General of the Press Authority of the Ministry of Information said the Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media in Viet Nam would contribute to fulfill Viet Nam’s international and national commitments on gender equality.

Ms. Shoko Ishikawa, Representative of UN Women in Viet Nam said that the indicators fit the context of Beijing+20 and are very timely and completely aligned with the requirements of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA) which is a global pledge to attain equality, development, and peace for women worldwide.

Ms. Katherine Muller-Marin, Representative of UNESCO in Viet Nam urged the media to uphold their important role as a central carrier of public opinion capable influencing societal attitudes and promoting gender equality both within the working environment and in their representation of women and men.

The GSIM for Vietnamese media is a contextualized version of UNESCO’s GSIM developed in 2012. The contextualization was implemented by the Ministry of Information and Communications of Viet Nam in coordination with UNESCO and OXFAM and piloted by national broadcaster Voice of Vietnam (VOV). Ms. Nguyen Thuy Lan, a member of VOV’s Committee for the Advancement of Women, commented that it is detailed, complete, and easy to use to evaluate gender equality in the organization, management and content of VOV and facilitates VOV’s monitoring and reporting on gender equality to the National Committee for the Advancement of Women of Viet Nam.

To discover this publication, please use the link below:

Bộ chỉ số về Giới trong Truyền thông