MGEC launches search for most gender-fair media

To give due recognition to gender-fair practices in Movie, Print and Broadcast Media, the Media Gender Equality Committee (MGEC) has launched a nationwide search for recipients of the GAD Transformation and Institutionalization through Mainstreaming of Programs, Agenda, Linkages and Advocacies (GADtimpala) Awards.

The GADtimpala Awards is an incentive awards system that recognizes the best gender-fair and gender-balanced media practices.

MGEC Chairperson, Secretary Sonny Coloma of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), said the GADtimpala Awards will “help in mainstreaming the gender equality criteria of gender balance in content and programming, gender-fair language, positive portrayal of women in media and film and other works by professionals and students.”

The award has four categories: Gender-Fair Radio Program, Gender-Fair TV Program, Gender-Fair Print Media, and Gender-Fair Film.

There will be one awardee for each category but special citations may be given to deserving organizations. Each winner will receive a plaque/trophy from the Media and Gender Equality Committee during the awarding ceremony, one of the highlights of the Women’s Month Celebration in March.

The committee launched the search during the kick-off of the Philippine Commission on Women’s (PCW) 18-Day Campaign to End Violence Against Women (VAW) last November 25 at the Quezon City Memorial Circle.

For details on the criteria for the award, nomination process, selection/qualifying process and to download the nomination form, log on to PCW’s website http://www.pcw.gov.ph, or contact the GADtimpala Secretariat at (02) 7358509 or 7351651 loc. 131, or send an email to mgec.govph@gmail.com. The deadline for nomination is January 30.

The MGEC was established through Section 19 of RA 9710 or an Act Providing for the Magna Carta on Women, to promote gender mainstreaming, formulate the guidelines on gender equality and Code of Ethics for media, and monitor and evaluate their implementation.

The committee is composed of representatives of the PCOO, PCW, National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP), Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), Optical Media Board (OMB), National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and women’s media NGOs.