ABU SG Javad Mottaghi Sends Message in Support of International Women’s Day
*Above image by: Yihui Yuan/UN Women
Javad Mottaghi, ABU Secretary-General
On behalf of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, I send this message in support of International Women’s Day. Each year on 8 March, we acknowledge and celebrate women’s achievements. The theme for 2021 is #ChoosetoChallenge. This is a call to think critically about our actions and work together to forge a gender equal world.
The media, particularly through our ABU Members, is striving to recognise women’s stories, issues and achievements in the Asia – Pacific region.This year, with support from UNESCO and the European Broadcasting Union, we are launching our publication GENDER EQUALITY IN THE MEDIA MATTERS! – an extensive set of guidelines that provides background, detailed actions and case studies relevant to our diverse and dynamic region, so that media organisations have tools to forge a strategic pathway to further gender equality in the workplace.
Another project, completed in 2020, had two major elements. One, was a first – time survey of our members, which focused on a broad range of gender, diversity and inclusion policies and initiatives to establish benchmarks and measure future progress. The second, was to produce expertise and support to a group of our broadcasters to develop tailored Diversity and Inclusion Plans that they can implement over the next three years to enable them to set achievable objectives and actions for gender equality and more diverse and inclusive workforce, workplace and on-air and online services.
The ABU is proud to bring innovative and practical solutions to empower media in the Asia – Pacific through projects such as these, projects that focus on gender equality, content and services.
I would like to urge our members to mainstream this line of work in their organisational policies and programmes throughout the year –not just when we mark International Women’s Day. We want to do much more to empower half of our population to achieve their potential.