Educational institutions, government, and non-governmental institutions are some of the common examples that are equally responsible for ensuring that any form of discrimination against women should be prevented at all costs. But the one that stands out the most from all of them is none other than the power of media.
Media has always been considered an essential tool in modern times for our society because the impacts that come about from its influence are astronomically high. Through mass communication, it has become extremely easy to spread a message to a large global audience-affecting people from all kinds of backgrounds. And what better way to choose to implement the message of female empowerment if not through media-based means?
Media has also proven to be the powerful vehicle that has brought about the awareness of the issues regarding women’s rights on a global platform, galvanized actions on the city streets, and have also encouraged policymakers around the world to step up and start making new commitments to women equality.
However, it is also essential to remember that media is similar to a double-edged sword; there might be times when media might not exactly have a positive thing or, at times, nothing to say at all about female roles in societies. In fact, there have been many nations where women are affected by the lack of coverage as there are still many policymakers who are not implementing equality issues immediately. These issues include bringing the public’s attention towards women issues such as the adverse sex ratio, crimes against women, maternal and infant mortality, and how the effects of poverty affect the daily life of women and their children.
Most of the coverage involving women’s representation is mainly occupied by models, rich women, glamor, beauty, and women in fashion are just some of the few out of the many examples. In contrast to that, there are very few articles that discuss female career opportunities, entrepreneurship, and various health opportunities devoted to improving the female population.
Although the media’s efforts have done an exceptional job so far- now women have more access to job opportunities that have allowed them to help out their other women. Yolandi Franken is one such example of a person who uses her profession as a film and T.V producer and an industry all-rounder to further spread the importance of maintaining the equality of gender roles.
In 2019, Yolandi had joined the Women in Film and Television (WIFT) and currently serves as the Co-chair of their NSF Committee and chair of their ‘Virtual Arm.’ This has allowed her to work with industry leaders, educators, etc.
In time, she also started a charitable film festival, “Caused Film,” which she had run for three years until she passed on her head role to someone else. This way, Yolandi wishes to use her position to help women worldwide be heard through their stories and help women start coming together and bringing their own stories to the collection.
