Feminist Talk

Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States of America are presently negotiating a trade agreement regarding counterfeiting and the enforcement of intellectual property rightsⁱ, known as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Erika Smith, communications coordinator of APC WNSP, took part in the meeting organized by the Internetⁱ Society (ISOC) Mexico to find out how ACTA can affect laws or upcoming bills that attempt to address other aspects of cybercrimeⁱ, such ase violence against women facilitated by the internet.

Sarah Macharia from the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) summaries the outcomes of the panel discussion on the Fourth Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), which took place on March 2 in New York on the occasion of the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW): “You may be aware the GMMP is a longitudinal study running since 1995 on gender in the world news media. The research is implemented in 5-year cycles, to capture a one-day snapshot of gender representation and portrayal in the news across participating countries. 130 countries took part in GMMP 2010, an increase from 76 in 2005, 70 in 2000 and 71 in 1995. The WACC in collaboration with UNIFEM organised a parallel session at the 54th CSW to present and debate the preliminary findings.”

Olivia H. Tripon, the Philippine Bureau Chief and Country Consultant for Women’s Feature Service, is writing about her experience from the UN Media Accreditation process: "...When it comes to covering this all important review which comes every five years, one would think that media organizations like the Women’s Feature Service (WFS) which had actively covered most of the 12 areas of concern of women for the past 15 years would be given UN Media Accreditation at least for this 54th session of the CSW. Unfortunately for WFS Philippines which I head, that is not the case. For the first time since Beijing, I can only cover side events, albeit a more interesting and diverse coverage."

Heike Jensen, researcher and lecturer at the Department of Gender Studies of Humboldt University in Berlin, (Germany), is locating the section J at the 54th Commission on the Status of Women:"[The J Spot] seems to prove almost as elusive as locating its embodied cousin has turned out to be. First of all, you will not find the J Spot in this year's intergovernmental and other official debates or proposed resolutions. You will have to seek it out in the vast parallel programme mounted by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in conjunction with this year's meeting, and this is where the difficulties really begin in earnest."

Chandrika Sepali Kottegoda, co-director of the Women and Media Collective based in Colombo, Srilanka, talks about the lack of access by NGOs that makes it difficult to see the J spot in the actual governmentⁱ review at the CSW.

Esther Nasikye, a Communication and Advocacyⁱ Officer at Icon Women & Young People's Leadership Academy, is commenting on the importance of the new media and art for grassroot women: "I have met many women in Uganda who are doing amazing work in their villages, towns, sub-counties but still work in isolation with little or no connection to like minded people whether in their town or country or even globally."