National Committee

Screen Actors Guild National Women's Committee

This committee works to promote equal employment opportunities for female SAG members. It operates with the National Statement of Purpose and national direction to promote job opportunities for women. It also encourages positive images of women in film and television, ending sexual stereotypes and educating the industry in regards to representation of women, both in numbers and quality of representation. The committee is open to both sexes.

United Nations Beijing Platform

The National Women's Committee has adopted and brings to your attention these paragraphs from the United Nations Beijing Platform (a series of recently adopted provisions).

For more information, please visit: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/

These provisions specifically call on trade unions and other organizations to recognize said provisions.

Following are excerpts pertaining to women and the media:

85. (j) Raise awareness of the responsibility of the media in promoting non-stereotyped images of women and men, as well as in eliminating patterns of media presentation that generate violence, and encourage those responsible for media content to establish professional guidelines and codes of conduct, consistent with freedom of expression;

130. (d) Encourage the media to examine the impact of gender role stereotypes, including those perpetuated by commercial

advertisements which foster gender-based violence and inequalities, and how they are transmitted during the life cycle, and take measures to eliminate these negative images with a view to promoting a violence-free society.

236. The continued projection of negative and degrading images of women in media communications - electronic, print, visual and audio - must be changed. Print and electronic media in most countries do not provide a balanced picture of women's diverse lives and contributions to society in a changing world. In addition, violent and degrading or pornographic media products are also negatively affecting women and their participation in society. Programming that reinforces women's traditional roles can be equally limiting. The worldwide trend towards consumerism has created a climate in which advertisements and commercial messages often portray women primarily as consumers and target girls and women of all ages inappropriately.

SAG Hollywood Division Women's Committee is dedicated to working towards the following strategic objectives, from the Beijing Platform:

Strategic objective J.1. 239. (b) Support research into all aspects of women and the media so as to define areas needing attention and action and review existing media policies with a view to integrating a gender perspective;

242. (a) Encourage the establishment of media watch groups that can monitor the media and consult with the media to ensure that women's needs and concerns are properly reflected;

Strategic objective J.2. 243. (a) Promote research and implementation of a strategy of information, education and communication aimed at promoting a balanced portrayal of women and girls and their multiple roles;

( d) Encourage the media to refrain from presenting women as inferior beings and exploiting them as sexual objects and commodities, rather than presenting them as creative human beings, key actors and contributors to and beneficiaries of the process of development.