Document details

Election Coverage from a Gender Perspective: A Media Monitoring Manual

Stockholm; Lima: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) (2011), 51 pp.

ISBN 978-91-86565-11-4

Other editions: also published in Spanish

Signature commbox: 10-Gender-E 2011

"In order to determine whether men and women have equal opportunities to get their messages across through the media, as they are reflected during the election campaign and the importance attributed to gender equality in the news agenda, a series of quantitative and qualitative variables will be presented in the following chapters to make possible an objective assessment based on common criteria so that women candidates themselves and the organizations that work on the issue of women’s political participation can design strategies in order to overcome their lack of coverage or the stereotypes that affect them. In addition, these variables have been thought through to help professionals who work in the media to begin to reflect on the causes of this deficit of women in the news, so as to analyse the cultural ‘filters’ they use that are not favourable to gender equality, and to design actions for change geared to more plural and equitable journalism when it comes to gender issues." (Page 12)
1 Why monitor the media in electoral campaigns from a gender perspective? 9
2 What are the objectives and characteristics of a study such as this? 13
3 Duration of the monitoring, 14
4 Preliminary steps: forming the monitoring team and guidelines for its work, 15
5 Which media outlets will be monitored? Defining the sample, 17
6 What and how? Initial steps for understanding the methodology, 19
7 Data collection and analysis: data sheet, definitions and procedures, 20
8 The final report: cross-referencing the variables and presenting the results, 42
9 Conclusion: some considerations for disseminating the results, 44
Annex 1. Data sheet for collecting information: print media, 49
Annex 2. Data sheet for collecting information: television, 50
Annex 3. Data sheet for collecting information: radio, 51