Media & Outreach

 

JASS helps get grassroots leaders and feminist activists onto the airwaves and moving on the information highway.

We maximize women’s creative use of all forms of media – from radio to Facebook and posters to CNN and Al Jazeera - in all its forms to amplify the reach, visibility and appeal of women’s agendas and movements. Our media strategies build support, interest and excitement around women’s issues, perspectives, and actions in building a better world – all essential for influencing debate and politics.  

The extraordinary work of Radio Feminista among many other feminist media leaders inspired us to integrate and prioritize media production and training into our movement-building from the beginning. We saw how activists were emboldened by speaking on the air and using computers and Facebook to make their voices heard, and how quickly our networks and agendas could be multiplied across borders.

Building on this inspiration, we seek to:

  • Bridge the gender digital divide by training women activists – especially grassroots and young women – on the how-tos of internet communications technology to amplify their extraordinary stories
  • Reverse the negative misperceptions in the media about feminists, women’s rights, and our agendas
  • Make women’s rights claims and movements central to public debate
  • Gain new friends and supporters with people who share our concerns
  • Enable us to mobilize local-to-global “viral” actions against violations of rights 
  • Educate, inform and persuade women and men that inequality and violence are critical challenges of our times, and highlight how women activists and movements are leading the way 

The emphasis here is on political strategy. Technology will change so the purpose is always more important than the tools. Cheekay Cinco, APC Women, Thailand 

We integrate different kinds of media training – from the basics of ICTs to the basics of messaging for movement-building.  For example, in Mesoamerica, we work with indigenous women in a program with Sinergia No'j that focuses on making the right to communicate real and the basic how-tos of Facebook, blogging and radio broadcasting. In Southeast Asia and Southern Africa, we regularly carry out media workshops called “feminist tech exchanges” with the Women’s Program of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC/Women) and our South African partner, WomensNet.   

Never ask permission. We have the right to freedom of expression and the obligation to use it. Fermina Chial Jiatz, Mayan Women’s Association NUTZ’IJ, Sololá, Guatemala

Using the media to influence public debate and policy has become increasingly central to JASS’ US and international advocacy strategies. To draw attention to our work, we rely on our alliances with the Nobel Women’s Initiative and Women’s Media Center. Our 2012 joint fact-finding delegation to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala generated 100s of radio, television and newspaper stories about the violence faced by women human rights defenders. Coverage spotlighted how the inaction by governments and the role of the US-financed war on drugs exacerbated violence and the extraordinary strategies of women defenders.