The chief executive from the Agency for Gender Equality, Edi Gusia, has asked the media to give more space to women and girls candidates in local elections.
Gusia made this statement during the presentation of the research "Women in the print media" for the years 2014-2015.
"On this occasion, I use the opportunity to convey the message to the media about providing adequate space for women and girls candidates in the 2017 local elections. In the research that we have done not only as the Agency, but also organizations from civil society and international partners not infrequently women politicians, women candidates have raised the problem that they have not been offered the same media space to present their program and to be properly represented", said Gusia.
Considering the importance of the media in shaping the mindset in combating the mentality, in eradicating gender stereotypes, Gusia invited the media to cooperate with the women candidates.
Meanwhile, Agon Maliqi, leader of the team of this research, said that the problem of the gender issue is not only in Kosovo, but it is a global problem.
"The role of the media is problematic around gender issues, not only in Kosovo. Here often some kind of idea that only we are the problem. This is not only a problem in Kosovo, but also in the world... In 2010, in a study regarding the amount of coverage, how women are represented in relation to their social commitment, 76 percent of the media content deals with what men do. While 24 percent deal with what women do. This is a worldwide statistic so don't feel like you are alone in this problem. Without a doubt, we should also deal with this issue", said Maliqi.
Based on the research, he has found that the topics where women were mostly addressed was politics.
"The most talked about topics for women is undoubtedly politics and the second is violence against women. Politics, without a doubt, not only because it is important for women, but because the system is a topic that the media deals with in general. but even in recent years there has been a much greater interest in the role of women in society and politics and the appearance of some figures at the national level who were women. That's why this turned out to be a very high percentage", said Maliqi.
From this research, some recommendations emerged that the decision-making bodies of the print media should create mechanisms that enable balanced reporting in terms of gender. Also, the editorial boards of the print media should create conditions for providing training for newspapers for the purpose of reporting. professional, etc.
