President of el salvador. Talks to al jazeera. And im really going to why all mel paddles still a thing today we discuss an issue that is near and dear to our hearts the lack of women in media if this is an issue thats important to you let us know how it affects your life tweet us or join our live you tube chat and you too could be in the stream. So we have man friend says him posing manaus when it comes to speaking engagements men continue to outnumber women by a large margin in the media well the same rules apply have you noticed over the past couple of years the string was made a concerted effort to die 1st if i add guests paddles look at this wall it took hundreds of extra hours of researching networking and creative thinking but that work has paid off in 2017 only 43 percent of our guests were women in 2018 we made an intentional effort to reach out to more female cast and reach gender parity now in 21000. 00 we in the year with more female experts than male ones our executive producer barry malone launched our gender Balance Initiative heres what he had to say about the effort. This very Important Reasons for us to do this. Representation is important and its important that the media whether its the stream or aljazeera english or any other Media Organization its important that we reflect the societies in which we operate and if you have gender bias newsroom whether its behind the scenes if your point of gender imbalance shows then youre going to end up with skewed conversations that dont reflect the society around you and honestly thats just not good enough for the media you know just try and improve you know just to start tomorrow and take tomorrow show or tomorrows newspaper article or whatever it is that you produce and just make that extra effort to produce more women or to book more women and what youll find is hopefully what we found is that the numbers keep rising and i think that you know what happened to us is we got to a cove to pull them off place to say our pledge to you now as the stream is that we will never pass another year with less than 50 percent women as our guests. Ok so joining us in our studio to discuss White Christmas and representation. Lisa lisa lisa is the executive director of the International WomensMedia Foundation. The washington d. C. Based Group Provides training tools and assistance to female journalists across the well you see how often have you heard a program or Media Organizations like we play we are going to have 5050 in terms of gender equality was the last time you had i dont think ive ever heard a pledge to reach 5050 gender parity in the news media i think there are promises to but do better and to try really hard but most Media Organizations dont put the work behind that promise. So your organization the International WomensMedia Foundation was founded 30 years ago about and i want to bring this up to see what changed the tweet we got from l. A. Of who says is that because there is still that mindset that men know better with certain areas of discussion like politics economics and war but if the topic was on fashion cooking children it is likely women would be picked to discuss that is that why we see the mantles in the conferences with all men in the t. V. Shows with all men panels is this part of the problem and has that changed over the years well i think its a perception that is fed by the media and then it compounds and there is nothing challenging our societal biases so if you have a news media that is continually putting women forth as only being experts in fashion in cooking and childcare then that is the perception and those unconscious biases are reinforced by the individuals who make up most of the news media who are men white men how do you break through that what do you do thats something that you organization has been trying to do for a long time yeah there are a couple of ways that i think you can challenge that in one is the counting and that is just really in my opinion the only way that you can do better if youre not counting on a weekly basis on a monthly basis then youre not going to change because how can you change your bias if you dont even know that you have it some people dont know that they have it and then really women just arent giving the same opportunities as in the journalism profession so our Organization Also tries to challenge the barrier that they face and provide opportunities that will help them be noticed help them get promotions help them get those gigs that theyre not getting in Mainstream Media i want to share a video comment we got from a reporter out of hong kong this is mary here this is what she told the stream. I think gender parity is important. But more broadly in media representation in general because only with diversity can we really try and get closer to fully capturing the complexities of the world around us not hearing from a certain segment of society means that we really risk missing out on an entire chunk of the narrative so its not just gender parity that we should be aiming for its diversity of all kinds of the city religion political leanings and the like. She says this is beyond just gender but of course you also have some people who say people should be picked based on their merit based on their experience what do you think about. I reject the notion that you have to be neutral when youre looking for experts i think that we have to correct historical wrongs and historical misperceptions and the only way to do that is to go out of your way and find the people who arent being put in front of you on a silver platter i mean it takes a little work to find the right person but the media is just failing if it is not actually representing the society that its supposed to be reporting on at least one of things that our team found was. A little piece of video to show you how do you put together a gender balance panel and i can very concrete tips have a look. So raising just points that do this you do this you can do this and also a swimming right want to see you before you go with what well i think that you also have to count on men to step up to the plate and not participate in manaus and there are huge movements in your up where they are the ones taking it on themselves and they say im not participating on a man all or how many women did you call before you called me so i mean we can fight this battle alone. Thank you i will be joining us thank you so much so important now this topic is not just about women men also lament the lack of diversity in media and on panels heres what one member of our community. Had to say im coming to you now from new delhi india land of the all male panels on the Television Conferences and elsewhere is that i not only do not speak on the all male panels i dont attend all male panels the reason is that to be discriminatory and dont give people a chance to hear other points of view that those of us who are blessed to have a chance to speak have an obligation to ask well to speak and suggest women people of color and other minorities and give them a chance to participate in the speaking opportunities that we can only if all of us do that can we make a change. Some of our interview producers are now joining us to discuss the streams effort to feature more women on our Program Welcome so they can hussein who has been with the show since it launched in 2011 so in your book that you can find qualified women to talk about anything from 45 minutes to puerto rican politics and im not a never give up so to you know because. I would have. She booked a guest for today show says shes back there in the control room stand up take a ballot thank you very much. This was an easy going. But its not easy lazy can you tell us you worst moment ever guestbook in trying to get the right guests another you start so i was trying to book a show of safety for journalists in europe and particularly the case of a journalist in multiple names to see was murdered and we were just talking about journalism particular woman and every organization i called recommended a male experts to be on the surface i would like go through everyones list of them for years and pick out the women in there keep giving me their mail boxes and so we went on there and fortunately its one of my fattest moments with an all white male panel and then we had a guest who emailed to be honest so who didnt respond tweet in about how it is an all male panel talking about women. And i was and they were so sad and i was so afraid. We were sadder in our in our meetings we have meetings when we dont have to you can tell were just asking about the newsroom just so upset that we felt at that one time so later. Absolutely weve definitely had mammals over the course of the last year is. I remember when we started the stream show in 2011 we did a show on domestic drones rising and it was a panel with a total of 5 males i think including the 2 hosts both of them were male at the time and so thats a big change that we have 2 women hosting this show but weve definitely changed and because our premise from the very beginning was that we will reflect the societies the under represented societies that needed to be on there and i think the power of the demo democratising of social media that brings up representation i think we as gatekeepers have to have to be involved so you just saw that on your screen there the show that she was talking about but i want to peek in just a little closer on my laptop here domestic drones on the rise you have a drone on the table just rushing was the gas hes also an aljazeera correspondent which i havent seen a former former host of the show so i get what youre saying there but we got a comment from someone on you tube that i want to share this person says you just created an imbalance by feeding men entirely i think you mean that out of todays show it is not easy to talk about ourselves and even when the show is pichon are plenty meeting i think people felt uncomfortable about it how did you feel about it why do you think its important for you to have come on the show yeah i think i think its important what were doing i mean the fact is that there are a lot of women in leadership positions there are a lot of women experts out there but unfortunately they dont get the exposure that their male counterparts do so its important that we talk about the challenges that we face in trying to find those voices so for instance in a recent show that i. We were talking about the legacy of the a k 47 and as you can imagine the all the experts that i found on that show were predominantly white male and so i had to become creative and think of a way to get a woman voice on there and i ended up finding a journalist thankfully who reported on the arms trade and the thing is she brought death and i knew once of the conversation that i dont think would have been there how did we not brought her on so it ended up being a success right and i think a lot of times its not just us out there just searching for the voices its about when we did the show on black muslim poetry i remember one of our guests that we really wanted thought a story he was like no i think you should get this person and shes a woman and shes amazing and shes this 2 time grand slam champion and we had her on side the issue she was excellent and so a lot of times its about walk people who are also allies in this its not just about getting their voices but when we have the right mindset its always possible i wondering about the guests from the guest perspective when they see the diversity on the show what has been the response that youve got i mean i think i mean when it comes to decide i realize and i think as people of color particularly in our newsroom were so sensitive to voices that are marginalized and so im very honest when it comes to get. To view white men like we are very passionate about reserving to see that our table for women and so for that reason were going to fold to spar with a woman ideally a woman of color and most times when i say about a white man they have nothing to say back or theyre like yeah we agree and very rarely use it so usually i said next year. I cringe myself when i hear you do it because they think oh this is so what are they going to say talk us through your process let the audience is exactly what do you tell people when they suggest a name that thats not the name you want i just say its important to the stream that we reserve a seat at the table for women of color particularly in voices where women in spaces and conversations when we. In the typically marginalized i dont know if people dont like you or that. Was you know you got to know you but has anyone. Thought that because youre probably dropping them we dont want to so yeah i mean ive had ive had guests who seem very offended when im like listening youre great youd be great for the show but i need a woman voice on this program and i will say over the years thats happened less and less so more often than not when i say to people i appreciate you offering up yourself as a guest but i really need a woman they say to me hey thats really refreshing like i really appreciate that you care about and i care about that too and let me help you out let me get you connect you to some place thats up women and its not just women right and its also like other marginalized communities indigenous voices disability communities that every single group that were going after were like very adamantly saying no this is the person that we want and not whoever were talking to im one of this is really about lived experience were looking for somebody whos in the heart of the story and from the story the whole point of our show is that anybody can speak to the officials making policy about their countries and their conversations and so we had a show about puerto rico sonya actually line produced that and it was about the governor releasing homophobic an anti l g b t q texan tweets we got leaked and we refused to have the show without an afro latina who. Recognize themselves and i was a bt Community Member and so its just given a voice to the people who are at the heart of the story as well so we got this tweet in from a viewer shes watching now maryam on twitter she says you ladies are phenomenal. All around still i sometimes question the gender focus because it can mean quota over quality do you think in your booking that that is true for you do you think sometimes you sacrifice quality because you want that his person represented that has never happened i mean if youre looking that then never. This is the truth. Honestly its never a situation where all of this is guess maybe a speaking style is different because were also looking for good t. V. Material but that doesnt mean that were going to say oh this person doesnt really know that much about the subject but were still going to have our because female quarter i mean i was a guys all the time right guys my other little bit i could be the this is the thing. I find the only guys that come back to me and go i dont know if im qualified for the show you know women and you almost have to convince women that theyre qualified to be what they already are and thats i think this fallacy of women not being experts in their field thats not really like if you look over them and youll find that theyre not what topic were at its not real and to be honest when were talking about these kinds of voices being represented were just looking at our own newsroom our team and i tell this all the time is that its that you when were our entire team as majority women so glad you said that keep talking im going to show pictures from. When i i look at me im a brown speaking Indian American muslim how many more hyphenated i want to person here and literally thats every Single Person on our team is like a different voice and when were hiring and i great job with our Team Leadership that they always are looking to hire such a Diverse Panel promotion. Thing years on this team and its been generations of women and so its important to remember what the stream is about and that and mission of the stream has always been to amplify a lesser known voices so. You said you need diversity to place so if youre watching the show you think lets try and see if we can do gender parity 2020 if you dont have a 1st team how they can and how they do it i think you can answer me to. Im sure everybody in this room can instantly tell when the story went out or a story is published and there wasnt one man of color in that room there wasnt a person of color there wasnt a woman and you can see in the end product when its all males and its always and you can sometimes see that within the our own network i mean theyre going to call anyone out but there are other production programs within the network where often you see a panel of 3 white males and i think you thats very rarely do we ever have that on this stream i think i want to jump in here because were having this great conversation and were loving it we think some of our audience members are loving it but i want to share the people who arent as much because there are so many comments like this coming to us live on you tube right now so im going to share a few miss jenny where are the men on your panel another person says the question does not address why people are on panels people should be on panels based on their knowledge not their identity several people writing that in another person tommy this is the last one ill read who says Quality Matters not gender so this is this is difficult so i can see you want to reply to that what would you say to them and also maybe talk about the constraints of your job because you managed to make a diverse even with only one or 2 days to book yeah i was going to say i mean that those comments are making the assumption that there are not enough qualified women to bring on to this program which is just untrue i mean my process when im looking for that voice that is hard to find as firstly i consult my colleagues who are all women and you know they have an incredible rolodex of contacts but then im reaching out to the analysts the expert the journalist who perhaps isnt a woman and im saying hey i need that woman can you connect me and they connect me to one person who connects me to the next until i find that voice it is possible to. Not read the old male teen who a book a guess but its not ok to have a team that has a lot of women on it why is that the questions these. Of questions that are coming up are because when when they are looking at the experts that are already speaking on there most of them are male what were saying is there are people who are not on air right now and these are people who have not been on t. V. But theyre out there doing the job and getting those voices out there is important because the more they see their faces when we see our faces on air thats when we have more positive impact whether its Community Whether its online or whether its your industry youre engaging the youre engaging on one Computer Community and the audience so much more when you have people that are representative of then and their stories and at the end of a thats just makes for a better job i have to say thank you so much because i hear you really can i hear you every day tell the guest to act like its a real conversation talk to each other bounce back was in full was extraordinary and very very much back in the control room great booking. We should use one thing as one of. The diversity we never talk about is this im going to move out like a slightly to do this. Dont say well im a british nigerian she called. Like we dont talk about that because its just how we roll on the screen. And the guests feel comfortable and they feel like theyre in a safe space and they can talk to us about anything but that is about to change because this one is leaving this stream this is what we have to say about it take a look. Social media. It didnt create the revolution. But it is definitely. Giving them a voice stepping into the role of digital producer today. Away. For those who dont know much about you. Working and what else do we need to know about you im excited to be in d. C. And on this couch. Very good. Many want once again cohost of the show the stream of social media streaming. In more of the i think they call a blog. We cant get into the deeper issues of this conversation with you at home so join the conversation. Because this is a topic in our Community Cares about and so with that im going to share a tweet from one of them im going to give us a little bit of a spicy start. My favorite show on. And i read a comment the very people that watch our show thats. Why. This documentary is about progressive women running for office what do you think that the new. Young women like yourself bring to the table that wasnt there before but i think its an entirely new perspective thank you so much that this is. Right. This is really. Thank you to the stream team and of course to our community i promise it wasnt a crying. But this is a show about breaking barriers and doing things you dont normally see on t. V. So this is happening thank you for allowing me to be a part of your community and for being in your company for these past even half years im not going far so actually its time to smile now getting down the hall im going to be a part of aljazeera is a big push into a whole new media for the channel as host of the pod cast that take its where were going to give you the story behind the stories that you see on the stream and on the rest of our air you can join me head over to pod cast dot com hold it up here click on the take and then subscribe we launch in 2020 until then femi and the rest of the stream team will see you on line. From the aljazeera london full cost center to special guests in conversation this is the chance to stop the revolution unprompted uninterrupted we need to do away with the way evil because that stops conversation where should we get our land to pull its own meat i. E. I can be this is the beginning of friendship this is the beginning of love right like were getting somewhere we can really break through the barriers studio to be unscripted on aljazeera. The most incredible stories are often true. And cheering go on experiences. Makes the on from you for me. In this law you know versity makes a difference understanding the importance of being part of something great so in this laurie what i want to reach is freedom of expression. The right to mortgage. The march to the dollar. Because you dislike. The design and to understand the. Nature of. The human condition is universal. This is a boon for point people right now in technology there is so much going to help people its phenomenal thanks for calling i read this is there and what are you looking for today we get to assist the client with their day to day tasks and give them more in depth and if the reader this feels like its a little gap that sure is a tomato exploration process was amazing in a way we have that Technology Available to us tech know. More violence in the northern indian city of la. New rule discriminates against muslims. This is al jazeera live coming up the man said to be lebanons Prime Minister to be given a chance but antigovernment protesters have already made up their minds. Chinas president price is political stability in macau after months of on rest in another selfgoverning territory hong kong