Gender equality advocates call on mass media to get involved

The mass media must act like an engine that propels the change of people’s mentality about gender equality, Ulziisuren Jamsran, international manager of the UNIFEM Programme on Promoting Gender Equality in National Development Policies and Programs, said during a training seminar on gender for journalists held on Monday, October 8. According to organisers, the seminar is aimed at increasing the knowledge about gender issues and at improving the skills of dealing with them in the press. The seminar was conducted by experts from Moldova and Kyrgyzstan. The journalists learned about the stereotypes and conceptions of gender. They got acquainted with the national legislation and international mechanisms for guaranteeing the rights and equal chances for men and women and analyzed the gender dimension as reflected by the Moldovan journalists. At the programme opening, Vasile Croitoru, adviser to the Minister of Social Protection, Family and Child, said that the Republic of Moldova is a specific case as regards the issue of gender. Now, it is difficult to say what the primordial factor of gender discrimination is: the social perception based on prejudices and stereotypes or the specific features of the national economy and migration, Vasile Croitoru said. The training seminar for journalists is organised by the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child in cooperation with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) with resources from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).