Media for Gender Justice: Insights from Gender Experts #5 Dr. Vijaya Jayathilake

by Hasarel Gallage
17-Oct-2018

"As a demand driven industry, media portrays gender in a rather stereotypically while causing gendered violence that often go unnoticed", says Dr. Jayathilake, a Senior Lecturer in University of Peradeniya. He believes that this vicious cycle of negative gender portrayal should be broken at three levels as individual, relational and institutional in which media can play a critical role.

He points out that media has a way of operating in a very subtle manner that is capable of transforming the perceptions and opinions of people even without their knowledge over a long period of time. This is a very salient feature of media which can be used to promote gender equality. He also adds that gendered way of reporting in media and the lack of investigative reporting should be addressed while also building the capacities of journalists to perceive stories beyond gender stereotypes.

 

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