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Resolution 1751 (2010) Final version
Combating sexist stereotypes in the media
1. The Parliamentary Assembly notes
and deplores the fact that women are the victims of sexist stereotypes
in the media. On the one hand, they are under-represented, if not
invisible, in the media. On the other hand, the persistence of sexist
stereotypes in the media – confining women and men to the roles traditionally
assigned by society, that is, women at home, men in the professional
and political world, women as victims or as sexual objects, men
as competent and powerful leaders or as sexually driven – is a barrier
to gender equality.
2. The sexist stereotypes conveyed vary from humour and clichés
in the traditional media to incitement to gender-based hatred and
violence on the Internet. Sexist stereotypes are too frequently
trivialised and tolerated under the banner of freedom of expression.
Furthermore, these stereotypes are often subtly conveyed by the
media which reproduce the attitudes and opinions seen as the norm
in societies where gender equality is far from reality. Accordingly,
all too often, court action cannot be taken against sexist stereotypes nor
can they be penalised by regulatory or self-regulatory authorities,
except in cases of the most serious violations of human dignity.
3. Nonetheless, the impact of sexist stereotypes in the media
on the formation of public opinion, especially among young people,
is disastrous: these stereotypes perpetuate a simplistic, immutable
and caricatured image of women and men, legitimising everyday sexism
and discriminatory practices, and they may facilitate or legitimise
the use of gender-based violence. As such, sexist stereotypes are
a means of discrimination.
4. The media, a vital constituent of democracy, have a particular
responsibility in this field to promote respect for human dignity,
the fight against all forms of discrimination, and equality between
women and men. Sexism, like racism and other forms of discrimination,
has no place in the media. The Assembly reasserts its commitment
to upholding the principles of human dignity and non-discrimination
guaranteed in the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5).
It further highlights the positive role that the media can play
in promoting gender equality, referring in this connection to Recommendation
No. R (84) 17 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on
equality between women and men in the media.
5. Moreover, education and training are absolutely essential
in order to learn how to recognise, be aware of and overcome stereotypes.
It is therefore crucial to inform children, from an early age, about
combating discrimination and promoting gender equality.
6. The Assembly calls on member states to strengthen training
and education activities and to:
6.1. promote
and launch awareness-raising campaigns;
6.2. include, in gender equality legislation, provisions aimed
at combating sexist stereotypes;
6.3. promote the introduction and/or effective functioning
of regulatory or self-regulatory media authorities to guarantee
respect for human dignity, to contribute to the fight against discrimination, including
gender-based discrimination, and to promote not only diversity but
also equality between women and men;
6.4. define, in dialogue and consultation with public and private
partners in the profession, codes of good practice which proscribe
sexist practices and images, promote the balanced presence of women and
men in the media and include the gender perspective;
6.5. introduce quotas or other positive measures in the public
media, together with objectives to improve the participation and
representation of women;
6.6. put in place structures to monitor and/or strengthen self-regulatory
mechanisms for reporting on stereotyped portrayals, drawing, where
they prove effective, on the mechanisms for denouncing sexist advertising;
6.7. promote the introduction of a European system of monitoring
and exchange of best practices;
6.8. place an emphasis on programmes aimed at young people
to combat the stereotyped images of women and men and the sexist
attitudes found in society;
6.9. promote, in schools, teaching that enables students to
interpret the media and decode sexist stereotypes, and education
concerning gender equality, in line with Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)13 of
the Committee of Ministers to member states on gender mainstreaming
in education and the Assembly’s Resolutions 1557 (2007) on the image of women
in advertising and 1669
(2009) on the rights of today’s girls: the rights of
tomorrow’s women.
7. The Assembly furthermore calls on national parliaments to:
7.1. combat sexist stereotypes in
the media by adopting legal measures to penalise sexist remarks
or insults, incitement to gender-based hatred or violence and defamation
of an individual or group of individuals on the grounds of their
sex;
7.2. enable individual victims of gender-based discrimination,
and also non-governmental organisations active in the field of gender-based
violence and discrimination, to seize the courts or competent regulatory
and self-regulatory authorities in order to challenge incitement
to gender-based hatred or violence and defamation of an individual
or group of individuals on the grounds of their sex;
7.3. enable the public prosecution service to take action, ex officio, against incitement to
gender-based hatred or violence and defamation of an individual
or group of individuals on the grounds of their sex;
7.4. encourage members of parliament to adopt non-sexist language
and not to resort to sexist stereotypes in the course of their parliamentary
activities;
7.5. urge members of parliament to demand that female candidates
and elected representatives have the same access to the media as
their male counterparts.
8. The Assembly calls on member states to encourage measures
to promote the visibility and importance of women in the media,
including:
8.1. the systematic analysis,
both quantitative and qualitative, of the status and role of women
in the media;
8.2. the establishment of lists of female experts and consultants
who could be called on by the media;
8.3. the creation of competitions and prizes to reward those
media which promote the balanced representation and participation
of women and men;
8.4. the setting up of think-tanks focusing on the promotion
of equality between women and men, whose activities may be taken
into account by media regulation bodies.
9. The Assembly calls on the media to:
9.1. raise journalists’ awareness and train them to include
the gender equality dimension in journalism and in the media;
9.2. promote the gender equality dimension in regulatory and
self-regulatory authorities and, where appropriate, implement the
recommendations contained in codes of good practice;
9.3. favour a more balanced representation of women in the
media and a non-stereotyped representation of women and men, thereby
helping to overcome obstacles to gender equality.