Examining the media coverage of violence against women in the Global South (12 December 2023)

Violence against women is a global crisis. Inequities around class, gender, race, sexuality, disability and mental health issues are a leading factor for this violence. These inequities are more acutely felt by women in Global South, yet violence against women in this region receives minimal media coverage.

Our awareness and understanding of it is largely a consequence of the media. But how well does journalism do justice to the situations it reports on– and how do women from the Global South use social media, as in #metoo, to share their stories?

These are questions were examined by journalism academics, who contributed to two recent edited book collections, led by Dr Andrea Baker (Monash University). The books are:

Baker, Andrea & Manchanda Rodrigues, Usha., eds. (2022). Reporting about sexual violence in the #MeToo era, Routledge.

Baker, Andrea.; González de Bustamante, Celeste. & Relly, Jeannine. (eds.) (2023). Violence Against Women in the Global South: Reporting in the #MeToo era , Palgrave/Springer.

By Global South countries we look at India, Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Egypt.

Panel Chair: Professor Jacquie True, head of the Monash Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Journalism academics on the panel:

Professor Celeste Gonzalez Bustamante (University of Texas at Austin)

Professor Jeannine E. Relly (University of Arizona)

Dr Nasya Bahfen (La Trobe University)

Professor Usha Manchanda Rodrigues (Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India)