Are Nepali Media Gender-Biased? MPs call for equal coverage of women politicians
“I raised the burning issue of discrimination against Dalit community urging the government to ensure their rights to dignified life in the parliament. Alas! the issue I raised in the parliament did not get coverage in media. On contrary, had it been a male MP, it would have got strong coverage in the media,” said Harka Maya Bishwokarma, member of the House of Representatives. “I even approached journalists urging to cover the issue, but, to no avail. I don’t know why the issues raised by women MPs in the parliament are not covered in the media.”
MP Bishwokarma was sharing her experience during an interaction on “Women MPs and Collaboration with Media” organized by Nepal FM in collaboration with UNDP’s Parliament Support Project (PSP) in Kathmandu recently.
Like MP Bishwokarma, MP Sarita Bhusal shares “Women MPs are capable, qualified and knowledgeable with noticeable deliberation in parliament. But, media often tends to avoid the issues raised by women MPs.”
She referred that a fellow woman MP had raised an incident of murder of a woman and demanded to provide justice to her family in the parliament. Immediately after her, a male MP also raised the same issue. Surprisingly, the next day, most of the media outlets covered that the issue stating that it was raised by male MP. “Media did not even mention name of the woman MP who had raised the issue in the parliament first.” She lamented on media’s tendency of overlooking significant contribution of women MPs and focusing only on individual personalities rather than substantial matters that women MPs raised in the parliament.
“Since, we, women MPs often don’t get coverage in media, we are disseminating the issues we raise in parliament through social media platforms,” Bhusal said.
Experience of MP Narayani Sharma is not different. She said most of the whips and chief whips of the political parties are males who generally do not provide time to women MPs in the parliament. “I have not seen media headline with the issues raised by women MPs in the parliament. The mainstream and online media don’t prioritize the issues raised by women MPs. It seems that media don’t study the contribution made by women MPs rather they simply avoid the issues raised by women MPs. She said media can play instrumental role in empowering women MPs by accurately and fairly reporting the contributions women MPs have made in lawmaking and parliamentary functions.
MP Sita Kumari Rana said sometimes it happens that media wrongly presents the views expressed by women MPs and it discourages women MPs to approach media. “Media should give space to the content raised by women MPs in the parliament. Such practice will encourage them to provide more content to the media,” said MP Rana.
MP Bindabasini Kansakar, who is also an acid attack survivor, shared that earlier media used to present her as victim with positive note. However, after being an MP, she has been portrayed in media adversely. She does not know why media has now developed such perspective on her.
Journalists offered practical suggestions to bridge the gap between women parliamentarians and media such as increased interaction and coordination among media and women MPs. Jaya Singh Mahara, General Secretary of Journalists’ Society for Parliamentary Affairs admitted that media often has a tendency of turning to male MPs for political commentary. He suggested women MPs to raise their views with ample study and data in the parliament.
Journalist Gita Chimoriya suggested women MPs to be proactive to remain in close contact with journalists and promote collaboration and coordination with media. She also suggested women MPs to organize meetings with editors of different media outlets to make them informed about the initiatives taken by women MPs in the parliament.
Presenting a paper on “Women MPs and Media,” journalist Binaya Guragain mentioned that women MPs have less coverage in media due to lack of maintaining collaboration with media. Likewise, lack of women in leadership position, less access of women leadership to information and the tendency of women leadership not being taken as the sources of information by media are the barriers preventing coverage of women MPs in media. He shared different measures, tools and medium for effective use of communication among women MPs on the occasion.
Of 275 members in the House of Representatives, the number of women MPs is 91 while in 59-member National Assembly, the number of women MPs is 22. Of 550 members in seven Provincial Assemblies, the figure of women MPs stands 200.
According to a study carried out by the National Assembly in 2019, of 33 bills amended in the National Assembly, participation of women MPs registering amendments to these bills was 32.75 %. Similarly, of 39 bills amended in the HoR, participation of women MPs registering the amendments was 50.6 %. As for deliberation made by MPs, the study showed that male MPs’ deliberation was more focused on political matter while women MPs’ deliberation was topic-centric with concerns of the general people.
The interaction contributed to enhancing coordination and collaboration among women MPs and media by providing insights and ways of further extending relation between women MPs and media.
Furthermore, it proved to be a good platform where women MPs highlighted challenges they faced in politics, including stereotypes, unequal media coverage, and societal perceptions. This apart, they advocated for increased recognition of their contributions and called for a more inclusive and equitable representation in the media. Additionally, journalists and MPs discussed strategies to bridge the gap between women MPs and the media, emphasizing importance of interactive discussions and proactive engagement among them.
