Help put girls at the forefront of change

Dear friends and supporters,

Over the past few years we have been experimenting and learning alongside girls to determine how to address challenges and create opportunities for positive change.  With only 16% of voices in Myanmar media belonging to women and female representation being one of the lowest in Asia, we believe media matters because strong representation and diverse knowledge creation has the ability to play a significantly positive role in a girl’s life.  Media can create opportunity to lift the needs and rights of girls to a higher status in her community, and even in the public policy sphere.  This report highlights two recent Girl Determined media-related initiatives that are putting girls in the control of media analysis and creation.

One of the featured stories in our recent by-girls-for-girls magazine issue was an excerpt from an interview with a Myanmar woman journalist, Khin Su Kyi.  She spoke with some of the Colorful Girls about the massive gaps of representation of girls and women in media, both on screen and off screen.  While there are a few recognizable women’s faces regularly seen on screen, namely Nobel-Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, most girls and women are portrayed in limited roles as domestic housewives, mothers, or daughters.  According to Khin Su Kyi’s analysis, women in leadership roles are almost always depicted in a singular, specific mold— conservative, donning a well-tailored local sarong-set, in the appearance of an ethnic-majority Bamar and sometimes even revealing her to be a practitioner of Buddhism.  This singular depiction does not provide an aspirational role model for girls from different backgrounds and with varying ideas of who they are and want to be.  This representation tells girls: “if you don’t look like, speak like, and carry yourself this way, you shouldn’t aim to lead.”  In an effort to be more inclusive and promote gender equality in media, the journalist encouraged girls from all walks to participate in media through multiple pathways as producers, directors, journalists, or artists, which will in time inspire more girls to get involved and be inspired to take on leadership roles.

We LOVE Khin Su Kyi’s analysis and encouragement and are working to provide two distinct pathways for girls to grow their understanding of media and harmful and potentially positive impacts of representation, and through control of media creation, in the form of ‘The Pollinator’ magazine. 

Girls’ Leadership and Advocacy Summer Camp – Fifty girls from across the country gathered together near the top of a small mountain, enjoying the cool breezes and discussing media; the representation of girls and how that impacts each of us; the myriad ways that media enters daily life, even in remote villages and camps for the internally-displaced, which are often seen as “cut off;”  and, how girls can start in their communities to use media channels to raise their concerns, challenges, and perspectives, enhancing their status.  This is a newly developed curriculum and we are eager for the girls to give us their feedback so that we can improve it for future years. 

‘The Pollinator’ Magazine – The girl media team has completed two issues of this by-and-for-girls magazine, with the third in the works.  The magazine process puts control in the hands of adolescent girls and legitimizes their voices and perspectives in print. Over several months, the girl media team has worked closely with a local creative agency, Bridge, to develop the step-by-step process for content creation and layout design.  We now have an amazing game board which the girl media team plays to guide them through production, editing, reviewing, layout and the publication of each issue. The result is an eye-grabbing, DIY, scrap-book-y, magazine that represents the perspectives and ideas of the girls and young women involved.  Having grown up with periods of intense media censorship and limited media access in general, this is the first time that girls in our programs have had the chance to be actual media creators.  The ‘gamification’ of each issue's development and the hand-made process really gives girls the tools to succeed.   Because the process is not technical, girls from across the country can participate not only by writing stories, commentary, and poetry, but feeding directly into the layout and graphic design.  This ensures that girl pollinators from across the country can effectively spread their ideas. 

Thanks for your continued support and attention!

Links:

• Report published by Myanmar Women's Journalist Society (MWJS)
• Bridge Creative Agency