20 November 2019
The principles of gender equality are actively implemented in Kazakhstan. UNESCO Chair in Journalism and Communicatio at KazNU Al-Farabi in partnership with the International Program for the Development of Communications of UNESCO and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women - UN Women, perform a set of tasks aimed at enhancing the competencies of journalists, press officers, and new media users in the field of supporting gender equality.
The Chair activities include conducting research in the field of female employment, migration, and Gender-sensitive indicators for the media. In October 2018, the department implemented the capacity building project on "Strengthening the Curriculum on Gender Journalism", as a result of which six higher education courses were introduced at Kazakhstani universities, which takes into consideration the gender positions; use of gender aspects was extended to the content of the majority of the training courses.An integral part of this project is interaction with practitioners in the regions, to whom the media trainers of the UNESCO Chair in Journalism and Communication demonstrate the possibilities of the correct use of gender-neutral language as a professional tool in covering events in print and electronic media, in social networks, in preparing press releases and background materials.The media needs a balanced approach, to cover without infringement of the rights of either men or women, and for this no additional investments are required, except for competence
Nikolay Berendyaev, journalist of the newspaper “Auyl tynysy”, Uralsk
UN Women in Kazakhstan, in partnership with the department, specified the objectives and indicators of gender-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) until 2030 and expanded practical skills in maintaining gender equality in media content and managing editorial offices in Uralsk, West Kazakhstan Region and in the city of Kostanay and its region. During the team work at the training seminars “Media and Sustainable Development Goals” in November 2019 to overcome the stereotyping of men and women in the media, journalists presented images that construct the public opinion and supported by the media. Journalists explained what definitions were acceptable to use in Kazakhstan, and which were perceived by the society with caution. The topics of presentations, interactive, games and workshops were based on materials from UNESCO and UN Women, expanding gender literacy among media workers.
During the two-year period from 2018 to 2019, 15 teachers of journalism universities and 34 media journalists were trained.
Therefore, the cooperation between the UN agencies and the UNESCO Chair in Journalism and Communication at KazNU al-Farabi will continue to help improve media skills in showing equal opportunities for men and women.
Projects are contributing to SDG16.10; SDG 5, SDG 4.7.
Permanent link: http://en.unesco.kz/universities-of-kazakhstan-and-mass-media-support-gender-oriented-approach-in-journalism