WOMEN AND MEDIA SURVEY

Despite the fact in the last decades women have given many demonstrations of their capabilities in many different domains, both in social and private life, many of them still have to face cultural, legal, social, economic and political obstacles on their way  towards the achievement of emancipation and equal opportunities. The commitment of international institutions and organisations in support of equality between men and women is an evidence of this situation, whose evolution constantly needs concrete actions to be shared by all the actors involved and , first of all, by women themselves. For instance, UNSECO has settled a Genders Equality action plan for the 2008 -2013 period, and the European Union has made a guide line of it, for the 2007-2013 scheduling. In this framework, Media –  especially New ones – play an crucial role, as they have become one the most valuable instruments in reciprocal exchange, dialogue and raise of consciousness. However, the image Media convey of women still remains  too often incomplete and stereotyped. The first cause of this oversimplification could be imputed to the so-called “crystal roof”, a widespread phenomenon  that frustrates women's effort to advance in their career and to reach managerial positions, thus impeding an actual shifting of the common point of view. The importance of the relationship between women and Media has been also recognised by UNESCO that, in 2005, organised a symposium on “Women between Orient and Occident”, that aimed at analysing the image of Arab women conveyed through Arab Media. On this basis, the image of women that Media convey is a crucial topic that could be very interesting to relate with women status in society and in the job market. On this topic the PNUD has focused in its 2005  report titled “ Towards the rise of women in the Arab world”, in which it recommended the development of  “research and statistical tools that aim to measure accurately women's contribution to the production to the production of human welfare and the construction of human development.” COPEAM  and the International  Relations of RAI  will to carry on a concrete action has led them to setting up of a survey addressed to Euro-Mediterranean women Media professionals that aims at “extending” the research conducted in 2007 by the UNESCO Chair in Public and Community Communication in Rabat and titled “Profession :Journalisme maghrébin au feminine”, as it is addressed to all Euro-Med region Countries, and not only to those that belong to the Maghreb area. This initiative, that has already got a extremely positive feedback in the last months, aims at drawing a panorama of women employment in the Media field, including the number of women professionals employed in each organisation concerned, the kind of career they made, the reasons that stimulated them towards a career in the Media field and the strategies they  employ in order to  conciliate both professional and private spheres. Of course, in the analysis of the collected data, it will be essential to compare the answers according to the geographical areas of provenience of the interviewed subjects. The survey could in fact explain if the condition of women changes according to geographical characteristics or if they all have to face the same problems. The results of this action will be officially presented during next COPEAM Conference in Bucharest, from 15th to 18th May 2008. These results will become a concrete basis starting from which it will be possible to conceive new actions that will allow a concrete equality of opportunity in our field. QUESTIONNAIRE http://www.hypercube.it/copeam/questionnaire.php