The service targets the opinion and commentary pages of mainstream newspapers, radio stations and wire services in Southern Africa, East Africa and globally through GL's partnership with the African Women and Child Feature Service in Nairobi, and Inter Press Service, a global development news agency.

The service consists of a core group of activists from around Southern Africa who met in Johannesburg from 29 September to 3 October 2003 to map out a strategy. During the workshop, the seventeen participants from 16 media and non-governmental organisations and nine countries, produced opinion pieces that will be marketed to mainstream media. This team, and other opinion shapers who have an interest in promoting gender equality, will be producing a series of additional opinion and commentary pieces for the Sixteen Days of Activism on Gender Violence from 25 November to 10 December.

The opinion pieces produced by the writers at the workshop will be contained in a souvenir issue of GL's bimonthly gender justice journal, Amalungelo, that will be launched on 25 November - International Day of No Violence Against Women.

From November 2003 the service will provide an average of 15 articles each month that reflect on current events from a gender perspective and provide insight on gender justice.

"The service is one of several strategies arising from the Gender and Media Baseline Study (GMBS) that shows that women's voices are grossly under-represented in the media and that coverage of gender issues constitutes a mere two percent of overall coverage. The former Director General of IPS, veteran journalist and gender activist Patricia Made will edit the service."

Gender