The project monitoring the image of women and men in media following the revolutions that erupted across several Arab countries in early 2011 stands as one of the earliest initiatives implemented by the then-newly established Sawt Foundation for Development. It represented a significant opportunity for the foundation to engage in civil society work and was executed with tremendous effort and fervent enthusiasm. Sawt was one of seven Arab civil society organizations implementing the project across seven different Arab countries, backed by the regional partner, the Arab Network for Monitoring and Changing the Image of Women and Men in Arab Media. The Network issued a comprehensive report detailing the monitoring results. While the project was intended to continue in subsequent years, the outbreak of later turmoil in Yemen made sustained implementation difficult – a development deeply regrettable for the Sawt Foundation.
The report (accessible here) “highlighted how Arab media – whether audio, print, or visual – covered women’s participation alongside men in these revolutions, events, and efforts toward serious and realistic political and social reforms. It also examined the role of feminist organizations in supporting this revolutionary movement, which emerged after a near-fatal stagnation.”
As part of this project, the Sawt Foundation for Development carried out targeted activities to develop a Journalistic and Media Honor Charter. It organized a workshop presenting a draft of the Charter to Yemeni journalists (male and female) for discussion, as part of efforts toward its adoption. During the workshop, attended by numerous leaders and influencers in Yemen’s journalism and media field, the former head of the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate stated: “The Journalistic and Media Charter is a matter of moral and ethical commitment that journalists must uphold.” Concurrently, Marwan Damaj, then Secretary-General of the Syndicate, emphasized “the importance of establishing an honor charter focused on journalistic professional ethics.”
By developing and presenting the draft Journalistic Honor Charter from a gender perspective, Sawt aimed to elevate media performance and discourse, promoting authentic representations of both women and men in Yemeni media.
