Together with the team behind the project SouthMed WiA, Towards Greater Gender Equality: Promoting the Role and Image of Women in the Southern Mediterranean Audiovisual Sector”, CUMEDIAE has carried out an extensive research and published an unprecedented handbook under the title “Gender-related Opportunities in the Audiovisual Sector”.

The new publication fills an important gap in the existing publications available to film professionals. For the first time ever, in Arabic and in English, a book puts together relevant information about gender equality opportunities in the audiovisual sector in the South Mediterranean, in different areas such as production, funding, exchange and networking, knowledge building and selected public initiatives.

It has been conceived to be a useful tool for any individual or organization involved or willing to get involved into activities promoting the gender balance and gender awareness effort. The research combines information about best practices which may trigger the establishment of synergies and networking opportunities, together with information on film industry institutions and opportunities with a direct or indirect link to gender which may be of benefit to film professionals in the the South Mediterranean countries and beyond.

The handbook can be consulted on the official website of SouthMed WiA. 

SouthMed WiA, co-funded by the European Union, addresses issues related to the perpetuation of gender-based stereotypes and the under-representation of women in the audio-visual sector in seven Southern Mediterranean countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia. It is implemented by a consortium led by Interarts, Spain, in partnership with the Higher School of Audio-visual and Cinema (ESAC) in Tunisia, the Culture and Media Agency Europe (CUMEDIAE) in Belgium, the Permanent Conference of the Mediterranean Audio-visual Operators (COPEAM) in Italy and the Screen Institute Beirut (SIB) in Lebanon.