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Women in 2018 elections: large gender disparities in media coverage
27-7-2018
A study released on July 23d by Maharat Foundation has shown that women nominees in the 2018 parliamentary elections were severely underrepresented in the media compared with men. Entitled ‘the presence of women in media, 2018 elections’, the study comes within the framework of the ‘women participants in political action’ program supported by Hivos organization. It monitored the coverage of the elections from a gender perspective analyzing how the Lebanese press and media reflected the presence of women candidates during the period of the electoral campaign, the size of its coverage of their news and the image it advertised about them. The analysis also examined the speeches by women candidates and the extent of contribution of the media in promoting the culture of awareness about women’s participation and role in politics and political life. It monitored six newspapers, talk shows on eight television stations, live coverage, news, as well as Facebook and Twitter accounts of female and some male candidates during the two months between March six and May six election date. The results of the study have shown large discrepancies between the extent of press coverage of female and male nominees indicating that women were significantly underrepresented compared to men, (about 95% for men and 5% for women) noting that the state run Tele Liban remarkably contributed to raising the size of coverage for independent female candidates, (77.2%). Concerning social media networks, the study revealed that posts and comments on the political participation of women were higher among male candidates. The recommendations set by the Maharat study underlined the following: the need to adopt and ratify a transitional women representation quota, enforcement of the laws on media and advertising related to elections, with focus on a balanced coverage of both genders, and finally, a recommendation to the privatized television stations to seek and provide an impartial, fair and balanced electoral platform for all women and men candidates. The study is found on the following link: https://bit.ly/2v8wI7R. (Annahar 27 July 2018)
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