Regional Seminar "Women Leadership in unions and media", 29-30 August 2008

Gathered in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on  29 and 30  August, 2008, representatives of the unions of journalists of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela, members of the Federation of Journalists of Latin America and the Caribbean (FEPALC), affiliated to the International Federation of Journalism, in the frame of the regional seminar "Female Leadership in Union and Media" organized by the IFJ Regional Office (IFJ/LA).

We consider:

* That the situation of inequality of gender in the region is so evident, both in unions and communication media, where, despite the growing presence of women, their percentage continues to be minority in decision making and high responsibility posts;

* That inequality in remuneration, disarticulation between professional life and domestic life and the difficulties that women face in accessing permanent capacitation and professionalization is real and verifiable in each one of the countries of the region;

* That access of women to decision making jobs does not always guarantee the real woman's empowerment, as many time it reproduces schemes of exclusion and authoritarianism exerted traditionally by males;

* That after the agreements reached in the conferences of Brasilia, Brazil (2001)         and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2004), no concrete actions have been prioritized beyond the diagnosis, to strengthen the presence of women journalists in unions and media;

* That the efforts made to consolidate the gender perspective are assumed as a responsibility unique and exclusive of women;

* That the image of the journalist woman continues to be utilized, especially in the audiovisual media, with mercantilist criteria which subordinate their intellectual merits and professional capabilities;

* That the massive media overexploit the female stereotype, which tends to invisibilitize the woman;

We urge:

* The International Federation of Journalists and the Federation of Journalist of Latin America and the Caribbean (FEPALC) to assume the subject of gender as prioritary in the regions political-unionist agenda;

* Each Union of the region to guarantee the participation of journalist women in the decision making instances, proportionally to the representation reached;

* The unions of the region to establish a participating quota per gender both in the capacitating activities and the decision making instances;

* The union organizations to include in their clauses revindicating issues specific of journalist women; especially, guaranteeing equal opportunity in employment, salary, job promotion, attention to specific problems of female health and to prevent work and sex harassment;

* The media companies not to discriminate women in covering issues traditionally considered sources for male;

* Men and women Journalists to a journalistic coverage with gender perspective, emphasizing on the use of non sexist language and sex discrimination in approaching the news;

* The states to comply with the international conventions subscribed and ratified by governments, which guarantee women's individual and collective rights;

We commit ourselves to

* Promote gender policies which allow reaching equity regarding participation and representativeness in each union;

* Propitiate participation of journalists in collective building of conditions for a real women's empowerment;    

* Establish a follow up mechanism with the purpose of registering the good practices in the region regarding equity in gender, women leadership and empowerment in unions and communication media;

Finally, we thank the Argentinean Federation of Press Workers (Federación Argentina de Trabajadores de la Prensa) (FATPREN), for affirmatively accompanying this regional seminar and for their brotherly hospitality.

 

Buenos Aires, August 30, 2008

Federación Argentina de Trabajadores de Prensa (FATPREN) (Argentinean Federation of Press Workers)
· Federación Nacional de Periodistas (FENAJ-Brazil) (National Federation of Journalists)
· Sindicato Nacional de Periodistas de Costa Rica (SNP) National Union of Journalists of Costa Rica
· Federación Colombiana de Periodistas (FECOLPER) (Colombian Federation of Journalists)
· Federación Nacional de Trabajadores de los Medios de Comunicación Social de Chile (FENATRAMCO) (National Federation of Social Communication Media Workers of Chile)
· Sindicato de Periodistas y Similares de El Salvador (SINPESS) (Union of Journalists and Similar of El Salvador
· Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Industria de la Prensa y Similares de Honduras (SITINPRES) (Union  of  Workers of the Press Industry and Similar of Honduras)
· Sindicato Nacional de Redactores de Prensa de México (SNRP) (National Union of Press Redactors of Mexico)
· Sindicato de Periodistas del Paraguay (SPP) (Union of Journalists of Paraguay)
· Asociación Nacional de Periodistas del Perú (ANP) (National Association of Journalists of Peru)
· Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Prensa de la República Dominicana (SNTP) (National Union of Press Workers of Dominican Republic)
· Asociación de Prensa Uruguaya (APU) (Uruguayan Press Association)
· Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Prensa de Venezuela (SNTP) (National Union of Press Workers of Venezuela)