The full Speech of Melanne Verveer, Ambassor at large for Women's Issues, from the IWMF conference Womens Stories Unfettered can be found here. See also my former blog post " There is nothing that is not about us"

Qoute from the speech:

"I know that this morning you released the ground breaking report of the status of women in the news media and that it illustrates the progress that has been made by women in the profession—but also the distance yet to be traveled to end discrimination, to end under-representation, and to end the untapped potential of women in the media. I know that among you are so many who are the exceptions, who have made a difference in your companies, and who are committed to tapping the potential of women and to greater inclusion more broadly and the talent that they represent. But the study that was released by the foundation mirrors so many other studies with which I am familiar. Whether it is women in politics or women in corporate boards—the story line is all too familiar.

And yet, humanity has no greater underutilized resource than women. The right thing to do—and what we are all in fact beginning to do better—is to ensure that women have full access to the educational, economic and political opportunities that they can touch. Given that access and those opportunities, women can and are changing the world and I see it wherever I go.

I particularly like the fact that you have arranged these proceedings so that they will lead to a “Platform for Action” to achieve greater equality in newsrooms and news coverage."

IWMF conference in Swedish

I wrote two articles för the Swedish newspaper Feminist Perspective about the IWMF conference and the study.

About the study:

http://feministisktperspektiv.se/2011/04/01/manga-man-i-nyhetsredaktioners-topp/

About the conference, with several pictures ...

http://feministisktperspektiv.se/2011/04/01/global-pakt-jamstalld-journalistik/

Norwegian media are surprised by the difference between Norway and Sweden in the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media. Norway only has 35 per cent women on middle management in the news rooms compared to 49 per cent in Sweden. The same thing goes with senior journalists.
As a regional coordinator of the study I commented it on the Norwegian national radio, NRK Kulturnytt, this morning March 31st.

Watch & listen to the opening panel

The opening panel of the IWMF conference can be found on here.

During the coming week I will add on photos and relevant links for the different parts of the program.
The panel of male power players can be found here.

An historical moment

All the IWMF delegetas rasied their hand in favour for the principles of creating a Declaration of Gender Equity in News Media. The regions are now to decide on what will be their main goals when they go back home. Female editors can change the world and that is what they are doing it right now.

Thank you IWMF!

It is time to thank IWMF for the fantastic initiative! Here are some of the fantastic women who made it all possible.

Proud of FOJO

"I have been to FOJO!" That is a common quote from the delegates from the developing countries. Obviosoly the Swedish training center for journalists FOJO is making a diffeence. There are obviously many great forces out there.