Capacity building and training initiatives on media coverage of elections can contribute to promote gender equality, raising the awareness of journalists on their role as agents of change to build more equitable societies and “helping them move away from visions of reality that highlight men while failing to portray the presence and contributions of women in the different areas of social life”.[1] National civil society and authorities and international partners have often delivered trainings on gender, media and elections to promote gender-sensitive media coverage of the electoral process, fighting stereotypes, prejudice and bias against women.

Example: In the lead-up to the 2015 local elections in Timor Leste, Search for Common Ground organized a workshop on gender-sensitive reporting, in collaboration with the Association of Men against Violence and UN Women. A total of 20 radio journalists from across the country took part in this initiative. Participants committed themselves to interviewing community members after the training, including women candidates to the succo (village) elections.[2]

Example: In the 2013 electoral process in Madagascar, the Independent National Electoral Commission for the Transition (CENI-T) organized a series of three-day workshops for journalists, in partnership with UNDP, UNESCO, Médias en Action pour la Formation (MAF) and the National News Agency (ANTA). The main goal of this initiative was to “deepen the professional and ethical skills of journalists from the written press, radio and television”. A total of three workshops were held across the country, in the cities of Antsirabe, Mahajanga and Fianarantsoa. The training sessions covered the topics of media ethics, the role of media in the electoral process, conflict prevention and gender, media and elections.[3]

Example: In Jordan, the Jordan Media Institute organized in 2013 a five-day open forum with journalists and media professionals, in collaboration with UNESCO. Through open debates, participants discussed “topics such as a review of elections and democracy practices in Egypt and Lebanon in comparison with Jordan, Jordan election laws vis-a-vis international standards, elections from a gender-sensitive perspective, and guidelines to independent and professional elections coverage.”[4]

Example: In the lead-up to the 2018 local elections in Sri Lanka, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) organized a two-day training on principles of election reporting for 37 journalists from across the country. This workshop allowed participants to review the new legal framework for local elections, explore principles of election coverage and examine key aspects of gender-sensitive reporting.[5]

Example: The civil society organization Gender Links has conducted trainings on gender, media and elections across the Southern Africa Development Community, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania. This initiative aims at bridging the gaps between women politicians and the media, “bringing them together to deliberate on the gendered nature of elections coverage.”[6]