Episode 1: Gender and Media

Host: Angela M. Kuga Thas

Featuring Guest Speakers: Wathshlah Naidu, Executive Director of Centre for Independent Journalism & Zurairi, Assistant News Editor for The Malay Mail

Malaysia’s media has a lengthy history of being silenced, most notably through the employment of repressive laws, printing license control, and media ownership restrictions. While digitalization has allowed for the creation and proliferation of alternative media, the online space still mirrors the offline patriarchal culture either in the gender stereotypical portrayal of women and gender diversity, including women’s sexuality or in the portrayal and commodification of the “ideal” woman. Consequently, the integration of social media and journalistic practice has exacerbated harassment, violence, and hate directed at women, particularly when the issues reported are deemed controversial (e.g., child marriage, LGBTQ people’s human rights, female genital mutilation, polygamy, dehijabbing).
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In our first episode, we discuss Malaysian media’s coverage of gender inequality issues, the lack of a gender analysis of these issues, the challenges in pushing for and advancing positive representation of gender perspectives in media as well as the next steps to better cultivate a gender diverse media.

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These are the personal opinions of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the views of their organizations or institutions.