‘Of words, Visuals and Inclusivity,’ a trilingual guide on gender sensitivity and inclusivity, designed for working journalists, compiled by senior journalist Dilrukshi Handunetti was launched at the Lakshman Kadiragamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies on Wednesday.
“As message multipliers, social influencers and opinion makers, it is important that journalists recognize the significance of their role in society. It is important that journalists avoid perpetuation of gender stereotypes and exclusion of persons with disability, marginalized communities and / or minorities, be they be sexual, ethno-religious or any others,” Handunetti said.
She said: “Every day we encounter countless examples of gender stereotypes which often do inadvertently get mainstreamed and perpetuated by the news media through poor language and image use, which contributes to continued discrimination.”
“As journalists, we need to understand the connection between the use of language and visuals and whether they inadvertently erase women, gay persons or those with disability by using exclusionist language or imaging that would invariably perpetuate inequalities.”
She gave some tips on structuring language and visuals such as the use of neutral terms that favour neither sex, avoid using feminine suffixes, avoid words or phrases that make assumptions about gender, avoid words and phrases that make assumptions about how women think or look or how men and women behave, address men and women in similar style, describe a woman as her own self, avoid patronizing terms, use terms that can handle both sexes and replace gender specific words with gender neutral words.
The publication was supported by the USAID through the Strengthening Democratic Governance and Accountability Project (SDGAP) in Sri Lanka and Internews.
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