IPS Asia-Pacific's Johanna Son introduces the glossary

MANILA - The need to teach students early about gender-sensitive language. Examples of how media reports pass on prejudices in some stories, and mistake gender blindness for political correctness in others. Some editors and writers’ discomfort with asking frank questions when they hear the word ‘gender’.

These are some of the topics that came up for lively discussion at the August 2010 launch of the third edition of the ‘Gender and Development Glossary’, held at the ISIS Intl conference room in Quezon City, Philippines. A mix of journalists, gender and reproductive health experts, professors and civil society advocates made sure there was a variety of opinions at the discussion around words, gender, language and media that day. Read more »

Ingrid Srinath, SG of CIVICUS and Mario Lubetkin, IPS DG

The 9th CIVICUS World Assembly gathered over 500 representatives of civil society, donors, governments, business, academics, media and youth from about 100 countries, from 20 - 23 August, in Montreal, Canada, to seek closer collaboration and greater resolve in addressing the global crises confronting humanity.

Mario Lubetkin, IPS Director General, was a keynote speaker at the Opening Plenary leading the discussion together with Ingrid Srinath, CIVICUS’ Secretary General and the wider audience. The agenda-setting conversation revolved around the assembly’s programme theme of economic justice and the main issues as seen by civil society groups around the world.

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The Nobel Prize winner in economics 2009, Elinor Ostrom, and José Sarukhán, leading Mexican expert on Biodiversity, joined an international seminar and workshop for journalists on Climate Change and Biodiversity on 15 and 16 July in Mexico City. The meetings were organized by Tierramérica, the Latin American communication platform on sustainable development and environment, as the next step of IPS activities in preparation for the COP 16 on Climate Change. Read more »

IPS is delighted to announce new language services distributing translations of IPS news in Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Hebrew. Translation of IPS news into different languages is a vital contribution toward increasing our audiences and bridging divides between peoples. Read more »

Chairman, chairwoman, chairperson or chair? Housewife or homemaker? What is so controversial about contraception, the word ‘family’ or ’sex worker’? Does being gender-sensitive in news mean hiding the genders and sexes of people who appear in them?

Whether you’re a journalist, writer, researcher or a news consumer, some gender-related words are bound to have gotten you wondering about whether, or how, to use them, or what they really mean. Read more »