Ahead of International Women’s Day, Monash University Senior Lecturer in Journalism Dr Andrea Baker is available to discuss the way violence against women is reported by journalists in the Global North and Global South.
The commentary is based on her two recent, edited collections, where Dr Baker worked with 29 journalism scholars from around the globe looking at ways to improve this reportage.
- Baker, Andrea & Rodrigues, Usha (eds.). (2023). Reporting on Sexual Violence in the #MeToo era. Routledge.
- Baker, Andrea; González de Bustamante, Celeste & Relly, Jeannine (eds.) (2023). Violence Against Women in the Global South: Reporting in the #MeToo era. Palgrave/Springer.
Dr Andrea Baker, Senior Lecturer in Journalism
Contact: +61 407 405 703 or [email protected]
Read more of Dr Baker’s commentary at Monash Lens
The following can be attributed to Dr Baker:
“Violence against women is a global crisis, but more acutely felt in the Global South. Despite this, women located in the Global South have been largely ignored in mainstream media’s reporting of this issue.
“The #MeToo era shifted media coverage of violence against women in the Global North beyond an ‘out of the blue’ event perpetrated by men to a widespread societal issue. However, media coverage largely focused on sexual harassment through a narrow lens of white, middle- to upper-income, cis-gendered feminist voices.
“Inequities around class, gender, race, sexuality, disability and mental health issues are a leading factor for violence against women. These inequities are more acutely felt by women in the Global South, yet violence against women in this region receives minimal media coverage.
“Journalists face structural and systematic challenges reporting on violence against women in this vulnerable region. However, despite politically constrained media environments we have seen examples of social media movements developing in the Global South, giving women a voice and offering survivors a platform to express their concerns.”
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