The role of media is crucial to the issue of violence against women, both in terms of how media cover (and often distort) the issue, and how media may be used as a tool to help activists and governments raise awareness and implement programs on this issue, according to Rina Jimenez David, a longtime journalist and women’s rights activist from the Philippines. 

Rina, who was interviewed by María Suárez on FIRE’s first Internet Broadcast at the Beijing +5 women’s conference in New York  writes a column called “At Large” for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and is an activist and national chair of a women’s political party called “Philipinas Advance.”  “Many women have said that the media coverage (of rape or other violence) was like a second assault all over again, because of their insensitivity in using pictures, publishing names, and other violations of privacy,” said Rina.

 “And the way they portray violence reinforces stereotypes, when they focus on the appearance of the victims, especially if they are young, attractive, or are questioning the way they were dressed.” 

FIRE is producing live daily Webcasts June 4-9 in New York during the UN Special Session of the Beijing +5 Conference on Women, which has attracted over 10,000 women activists, journalists and government delegates.   The daily programs in Spanish and English focus on the role of media in relation to each of the 12 critical areas of concern of the Beijing Platform for Action.  The first program focused on violence against women. 

In addition to describing how media tend to portray women who are victims of violence, Rina talked about her efforts as an activist to raise awareness of this issue among journalists, especially those of the younger generation. 

Specifically, Rina described  a series of workshops conducted by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility in the Philipines.  The 3-day session included a gender sensitivity workshop, and also talks by women activists on issues of concern to women, including one by Rina about violence against women. 

“I believe we really reached about  400 journalists,” said Rina, “because at the end we asked them about the impact, and the men especially had their eyes opened to the situation of women, and said they were going to try and be more sensitive.”  Rina noted that the young journalists seemed to be the most receptive to these ideas. 
 
 

During the live FIRE Webcast, Rina also noted how critical it was to have violence against women recognized as a violation of women’s human rights at the U.N. World Confrerence on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993.  The Beijing Platform for Action, now being discussed at the Special Session of the UN General Assembly recognizes more forms of violence. 

“In the past it was only military rape and state torture (that were recognized), whereas the Beijing Platform for Action was a landmark by including domestic violence, rape, and sexual harrasment.” Before 1995, such violations against women “were often not recognized due to culture or tradition.” 

Rina described new laws and actions related to violence against women in countries in the Asian Pacific region, which have been enacted since the IV World Conference on Women in Beijing 1995, when governments committed themselves to implementing the Platform for Action .  For example, in Japan, there was not even a term for “sexual harrassment” in the language, whereas recently legislation was passed there to prohibit this violation of women’s human rights.   Likewise, Rina noted that in the Philipines there is a new sexual harrassment law, although it is somewhat narrow, and a domestic violence bill is pending in Parliament. 

Rina noted that a big accomplishment of the UN Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993 was to have “fundamental rights” of a person recognized, regardless of country or culture, which opened the door for the recognition of women’s rights as universal human rights. 

“It was only recently that women’s rights as human rights were recognized,” said Rina, whereas in the past many of these rights such as violence against women “were violated with impunity under the guise of culture and religion.”