Operation 1325’s Turkish partner organization SES Equality and Solidarity Association is expanding its website with a section where the news articles assume a women, peace and security perspective.
– We want our reporting about women in the Ukraine to form a narrative of them as actors, rather than as victims, says editor Eda Dogancay.
The SES Equality and Justice Association works for gender equality by highlighting, via its website and social media channels, the perspectives that the organization considers is missing from general news reporting.
– The Women, Peace and Security Agenda is not highlighted enough in the media. We have chosen this new focus to allow for more space to peace and security issues.
Need for a different use of language in media
Gülseren Onanç, the founder of SES, believes that we are living in a critical stage with the war in the Ukraine and the rise of populism and right-wing nationalist voices both nationally in Turkey and internationally.
– We live in a militarized age. The media must be aware of how they describe what is happening in the world. We need to use language that promotes peace instead of using words that add to the conflicts we see happening around us, says Gülseren.
Not just a news site
Gülseren says that they do not see themselves as a pure news website, but rather as activists who report news from women’s perspective. Gülseren sees selecting news based on a feminist perspective as necessary in today’s media landscape, which is mainly dominated by and about men.
– As a civil society organization and media channel, we felt that we could do something about it, and be a role model for how media can carry out news reporting, says Eda.
The website becomes a forum where activism and news reporting are woven together.
– Through our language we try to be the woman’s voice and thus show solidarity, adds Begum Zorlu, editor at SES.
To read more about SES’s operations, visit their website HERE.
Operation 1325 celebrates 11 years
Since the very beginning, Operation 1325 has worked through advocacy and training - in Sweden and internationally - with the objective of increasing women's influence at all levels of peace processes and in conflict resolution. No women, no peace.
