During the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 21-25 June 2010, among a number of topics discussed by the deputies, they adopted a Resolution calling on national governments to combat sexist stereotypes in the media and gender discrimination, and on national parliaments to adopt legal measures to punish sexist remarks or insults.
Starting from the fact that women are victims of sexist stereotypes in the media, the Parliamentary Assembly proposes a series of measures to combat them. Sexist stereotypes are often imposed as trivial and tolerated under the banner of freedom of expression. Furthermore, legal proceedings against sexist stereotypes are very often not possible, nor can a penalty be imposed for such a case, except in cases of the most serious violations of human dignity.
The media, as a vital component of democracy, have a special responsibility in this area to promote respect for human dignity, the fight against all forms of discrimination and equality between men and women.
Sexism, like racism and other forms of discrimination, have no place in the media. The Assembly reaffirms its commitment to respecting the principles of human dignity and non-discrimination as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. Member States are called upon to establish monitoring bodies in the media to reduce discrimination based on sex and to develop codes of good practice with partners within the profession to promote a balanced presence of women and men in the media.
At the same time, the Assembly encourages national parliaments to adopt legal measures to punish sexist remarks or insults. Education plays a crucial role from an early age in recognising and overcoming stereotypes, and raising awareness and training journalists on gender equality in journalism and the media is an important factor that needs to be strengthened by introducing relevant measures. MEPs called on member states to guarantee adequate pensions for women and to revise relevant laws with a view to eradicating discrimination between women and men, as well as introducing positive discrimination in favour of women.
Recognizing the strengthening of the tendency of discrimination against Roma men and women, the representatives, in the Resolution and Recommendation, among other things, called on the Roma community itself to fight more actively against violence against women.
The text of the Resolution "Combating Sexist Stereotypes in the Media" can be downloaded from the website:
http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta10/eRES1751.htm
The news was taken from the website of the Office for Gender Equality of the Government of the Republic of Croatia.
