Setting up a Regional Database of Women Experts for the Arab Region.

Follow-up to the Gender and Media Advocacy Training Workshop for the

Middle East & North Africa Region, Amman, Jordan. 12-14 December, 2006

Results from the three GMMPs have consistently indicated that women rarely feature in the news and that when they do; they are rarely cited as experts or people in positions of authority.

While men are frequently consulted to offer expert opinion, women repeatedly appear in a personal capacity as eye-witnesses, giving personal views or as representatives of popular opinion. Yet, there are a significant number of women professionals who can offer expert opinion in their fields of expertise.

Responding to concerns from activists regarding the absence of women in the news, journalists have frequently claimed that they do not know who women experts are and so are unable to reach and interview them.

To enhance the visibility of women in the media, participants at the WACC Middle East and North Africa region workshop in Amman, Jordan in December 2006, resolved to create a directory of Arab female specialists on all subjects who can be contactedby the media for comment or response. The workshop was undertaken in partnership with AmmanNet Radio in Jordan.

The online directory will contain contact information of women experts available for comment or response to journalists’ questions. It will be organized by field or subject area.

The overall objective is to redress the erroneous assumption that professional expertise is male, and to promote a more balanced representation of women in the media.

Participants also agreed on future collaborative research focusing on the image of women in the Arab media.