Who Gets to Speak for Women in MENA: Media, Gender, and Ownership
Host: Womanity
Media landscapes are shifting rapidly across regions and platforms, yet familiar inequitable gendered patterns continue to shape who is heard, who is legitimised, and who controls the narrative. This session explores how women across the MENA region are reframing these dynamics: not only by telling their own stories, but by claiming greater authority in roles across traditional and digital media.
Anchored in locally grounded media practices that support gender equality in MENA, the conversation brings together voices from digital media, academia, philanthropy, and journalism to explore how questions of authenticity, identity, and ownership are negotiated as media evolves, and how these negotiations echo across local and global contexts.
Our discussion will be featuring:
Intro to Womanity: Valentina Di Felice, Head of Evidence and Learning
Moderator: Dr. Aida Al-Kaisy – Academic researcher and co-founder Jummar
Panellists:
Maria Elayan - Creative producer of Khateera
Maysoun Odeh - Co Founder / General Manager of Nisaa FM & Nisaa Media Incubator
Dr. Zahera Harb - Director of Journalism Postgraduate Studies at City St George’s, University of London
Muna Bur - Institutional Gender and Diversity Adviser at International Media Support (IMS)"
Participants are also invited to reflect on their own role — as media-makers, funders, or audiences — in shaping more equitable storytelling systems.
This venue has a capacity of 60.