Egypt Violence Against Women Study: Media Coverage of Violence Against Women

This 46-page research document was published in April 2009 under the Combating Violence Against Women and Children Project, produced by the Center for Research on Women and Media (NCW), Cairo University, for review by the United States Agency for International Development. The report is the results of a study, based on a secondary analysis of reports published by the NCW’s Media Watch Unit from April 2005 to March 2006 and from February 2007 to February 2008. It was designed to identify the nature of the coverage of violence against women in the Egyptian mass media with the goal of introducing an effective media mechanism that will help expand interest in this issue beyond the current limited academic community and dedicated authorities. According to the report, the findings of the analytical study indicate that the media does not give sufficient attention to publishing information related to violence against women.

According to the study, media has included the issue of violence on its agenda, at least quantitatively. However, authors suggest that this quantitative indicator does not reflect in-depth coverage or regular campaigns combating different forms of violence against women; rather, it reflects the fact that most coverage was sporadic and in response to particular incidents or as part of coverage of public events, not a newspaper’s initiative to combat violence as a social phenomenon. The representation of community violence was covered more often (66.1% of cases of media coverage of violence against women), compared to domestic violence (33.9%). Both print media and television were similar in their coverage of community violence (70% and 60.2% coverage of violence against women, respectively), and in their coverage of domestic violence (30% and 39.8%, respectively). Radio programmes had an equal interest in domestic and community violence (50.1% and 49.9% coverage of violence against women, respectively).

The report suggest that media channels only timidly discuss some silent or taboo issues, such as sexual harassment, which was addressed at a rate of 5.5%. Media channels gave only minimal coverage to such issues as incest, psychological consequences of circumcision, wife-beating, forced marriages, and marriage between rich men and young girls. However, authors propose that even this low rate of coverage is considered the first step in raising awareness about such issues.

On the issue of political involvement of women, media discourse was divided between supporting and opposing women in politics. For example, the print media (6.7% of cases) and radio programmes (18.7%) attacked discrimination against women in the field of political participation. Eyptian newspapers of all types of ownership, the national newspapers taking the lead, launched an organised campaign against marginalising the participation of women in political life. However, of particular note is the media’s general agreement with the idea that a woman does not have the right to be nominated for the presidency.

In dramatic representation of violence against women on radio and television, the analysis shows that violence against women is one of the main sources for conflict in plots for broadcast dramas. Of the 48% of radio dramas that presented issues of violence against women, 86.8% depicted domestic violence and 13.2% depicted community violence. Of the 45% of television dramas presenting violence against women, 69.5% depicted domestic violence and 30.5% depicted community violence. The qualitative analysis of the dramatic productions shows that, when these programmes portray violence, the family’s disintegration or malfunctioning is mostly the woman’s fault and only she is to be blamed. In addition, in these productions, justifiable reasons are given for violence against women.

The report offers the following recommendation based on the analysis.

• Develop a training programme for communications professionals that extends over a five year period, designed to upgrade the skills of personnel working in media to better address issues of violence against women, rectify concepts of violence, and emphasise new aspects of violence (including the human rights dimension), culminating in the formation of a media lobbying group to address issues of violence against women.
• Raise awareness of media personnel pertaining to violence against women through competitions and other mechanisms.
• Raise awareness of violence against women through media channels.
• Establish a mechanism for monitoring of violence against women in the various Egyptian media channels.
• Plan a media campaign on the national level to raise citizens’ awareness of the impact of violence against women on the family and community.
• Develop a media strategy to combat all forms of violence in the community, primarily violence against women and girls, while urging media policy-makers to implement this strategy and to reconsider media messages that conflict with the strategy.