The rule of reversibility is key to tackle gender stereotypes in political coverage, says IFJ

Ahead of International Day For The Elimination Of Violence Against Women on 25 November, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) organised an online training for its Gender Council members, designed to help to tackle sexism and gender stereotypes in political coverage. The 3-hour training, on 20 November, was developed through the IFJ-led EU-funded project Rewriting the story and brought together Gender Council members from across the world.

Using "Rewriting the story" training modules, IFJ trainer Marie Palmer showed the 19 trainees examples of articles, photos, and videos featuring women politicians in a biased, stereotyped way. These examples helped the trainees grasp the reality of gender-biased political reporting and helped them explore other reporting styles.

Palmer, who developed the IFJ training modules as a part of theRewriting the storyproject, highlighted concepts such as the rule of reversibility, a rule of thumb to understand that if a question or statement would be inappropriate for a man, it should also be unacceptable to use for a woman too. She also discussed intersectionality as a framework for understanding how various social identities interact to create unique experiences of privilege or discrimination, as well as its effect on someone's portrayal in the media. "Depending on your characteristics you can be more or less visible [in the media], that is why understanding intersectionality is key" Palmer said.

The debate focused on the importance of monitoring gender representation in news stories and making a concerted effort to include women experts in news coverage. Pamela Morinière, IFJ gender expert, expressed the urgency of changing mindsets within newsrooms, stating, "We need to ensure we change mindsets, it is not only about training journalists, but about transforming perspectives."

The Rewriting the Story project focuses on addressing obstacles to fair representation and depiction of women and men in politics. It has trained over 300 journalists throughout the EU to report on political matters with a gender-lens perspective. Key partners in this project included the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the University of Padova and COPEAM.