Yemeni mass media portrays negative image of women [Archives:2007/1109/Local News]
By: Fatima Al-Ajel
SANA'A, Dec. 5 ) Due to negative representations of women and their role in society, several journalists recently were trained on how to analyze the content of women's programs in Yemeni mass media and make positive changes in mass media policies regarding women's issues.
At a recent workshop, approximately 15 print and broadcast journalists discussed and analyzed Yemeni mass media's role in reflecting negative images of women via their program content. Media and communication expert and trainer Nashwan Al-Sumairi described women's image in such media, basing his analysis on studies done in Yemen and other Arab countries.
“Most Yemeni media depict women as inactive members of society, wholly dependent upon men in all affairs of life,” he noted.
At the same time, he told the trainees, most women-oriented programs in Yemen focus on the latest fashions, encouraging their female audience to give more importance to their outward beauty as their primary role in society.
Al-Sumairi further clarified that such programming presents a simple message of women's traditional roles as wives and mothers who must care for the home, regardless of other roles they can play in life.
“Rarely do such media convey women's participation in development, production or politics,” he pointed out.
According to the studies, Al-Sumairi noted that most Yemeni dramas depict either successful women or those struggling within their society, acting as tough women and behaving like men so much so that they are divested of their femininity to the point where society treats them like men, which is a negative portrayal.
A study of several women's radio and television programs on Aden's channel 2 found that only 4.2 percent portray women's role in development as active members of society, while only 5.8 percent portrayed other issues related to women and social causes.
Nutritional topics pertaining to motherhood and childhood comprised 37 percent of such shows' total timeslots, while health awareness and national campaigns seized 36 percent. Educational problems and issues made up the third largest portion of women's radio and television programs at 17 percent.
The National Women's Committee arranged the three-day workshop Saturday under the banner, “Techniques to analyze the image of women in Yemeni mass media.” The workshop sought to study the reality of Yemeni women's image in mass media and then seek practical solutions to correct and improve this image and their position within Yemeni society.
Wafa Nayif, women's affairs specialist for the National Women's Committee, described the committee's aim, noting that it seeks to reform those legal statutes pertaining to women, which reduce women's rights or make them unequal to those for men.
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