Meet GMMP Italy Co-Coordinators Claudia Padovani and Monia Azzalini

18 Abr Meet GMMP Italy Co-Coordinators Claudia Padovani and Monia Azzalini

Name: Claudia Padovani
GMMP Co-Coordinator for: Italy
Since: 2000 (coordinator), 2005 (co-ordinator)

Why are you a GMMP coordinator? What motivated you to lead the GMMP?

I was close to WACC given my interest in communication rights since late 1990s, then GMMP came as an opportunity. Since then, my own research activities [currently at the University of Padova] have focused more and more on gender aspects of media, communication and, more recently, the digital and related policies. 

How are you using the GMMP methodology, tools and findings? How have any of these dimensions of the GMMP shaped the work of your organization, institution or network?

The GMMP provides core evidence to carry out advocacy initiatives at different levels, and it has informed policy instruments for decades. We’ve used GMMP data in our interaction with Italian authorities and the Communication agency, as well as on occasions of the Beijing+ national reports, so as to provide data to support a women’s communication rights agenda. We’ve also used GMMP data and methodology to inspire work done for the European Institute for Gender Equality in 2012–13 on advancing equality in decision-making media organizations.

We – researchers and instructors working in academic contexts – have involved students from the early days, making the GMMP an amazing learning opportunity for new generations of communicators. We also established national teams of monitors involving colleagues from other universities from around the country, thus expanding the reach of the project to various cohorts of students in different educational settings and making our academic institutions better aware of the issue and of the transnational mobilization to address them. 

GMMP has also contributed widely to building bridges between academia and professionals in Italy, thus enriching research activities and opportunities for dissemination of research findings, while leading to positive collaboration with women journalists association and with the Italian Federation of the Press, now translated into joint training activities and public interventions.

What positive change has the GMMP driven in your context? What contribution has it made to the process towards gender equality in or through the media?

The GMMP has created various opportunities to develop collaborations in research. For example, GMMP-related panels organized in the context of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) yearly conference since 2010 (and again in 2015, 2019, and 2024) have sparked various collaborations, including projects that have been funded by the EU; see, for instance, the Advancing Gender Equality in Media Industries (AGEMI) platform, which remains a one-stop hub on gender and news media with globally relevant resources. 

Another highly relevant collaboration has taken shape in the context of a Swedish-funded project, the gender and media equality (GEM) project “Comparing Gender and Media Equality across the Globe,” whereby data from the GMMP have been integrated in a super-dataset with other data, allowing for sound exploration of correlations to be carried out and new ways of looking at the GMMP findings. This has resulted in a dataset and a publication in 2020 edited by Monika Dierf-Pierre and Maria Edtsrom.

Various other publications related to gender in/equality in the media have emerged out of these collaborations.

Finally, the GMMP remains as one of the cornerstones of various national and supranational advocacy networks, including the Global Alliance for Media and Gender, through which various interventions have been made at UN gatherings including, most recently, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) or the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20).

As we mark the GMMP’s 30th anniversary now in 2025, why do you believe that it is crucial for the GMMP to continue?

I believe what I have listed above are all good reasons to maintain the GMMP effort and commitment, so as to support, strengthen, and nurture the plurality of initiatives that either emerged out of the GMMP and related initiatives or are inspired by the GMMP as a symbol of the long-standing commitment to gender equality and women’s communication rights. Moreover, we constantly need to update data to prove the need for ongoing efforts, investment in resources, in education, in professional training, in institutional change.

Claudia Padovani is associate professor at the University of Padova, Italy, and vice-director of the university’s Elena Cornaro Center for Gender Studies.

Name: Monia Azzalini
GMMP Co-Coordinator for: Italy
Since: 2005

Why are you a GMMP coordinator? What motivated you to lead the GMMP?

I head up the research on media, gender, and diversity and inclusion at Osservatorio di Pavia (OdP), a media analysis and research institute based in Italy. I’ve been co-coordinator of the GMMP in Italy with Claudia Padovani since 2005.

I met Claudia a few years before 2005 when I was already working as a researcher at the OdP, with experience in media analysis from a gender perspective. When Claudia proposed that I join this project, I gladly accepted as it allowed me to continue my research in the field of gender and media studies. Since then, each edition of the GMMP has been an incentive to improve my expertise in media analysis from a gender perspective and to enhance my project coordination skills.

How are you using the GMMP methodology, tools and findings? How have any of these dimensions of the GMMP shaped the work of your organization, institution or network?

Building on the GMMP’s research and work methodology, I devised the GLocal Media Monitoring Project (GlocalMMP) to monitor local television in Italy by networking local authorities that regulate these small private broadcasters.

I then implemented the GMMP methodology in other projects as well, such as the media monitoring of the National Public Broadcaster in Italy (RAI) and the first-ever, Europe-wide TV monitoring of the main public and private television channels in all EU Member States in 2013, with the then-regional GMMP coordinator for Europe, Karen Ross, and, obviously, my colleague Claudia Padovani. The project was funded by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE).

Leveraging the findings of the 2015 GMMP, I championed a project to amplify the voices of female expertise in the media landscape: https://100esperte.it. The project secured initial public funding and has since flourished and expanded with the involvement of a private partner. The data from the 2020 GMMP has continued to serve as a catalyst for this project, which is now advancing towards promoting the media visibility of women involved in sports.

What positive change has the GMMP driven in your context? What contribution has it made to the process towards gender equality in or through the media?

The GMMP undoubtedly serves as an authoritative source of data in Italy. In this role, it has significantly contributed to the public discourse on women’s visibility in the media, a topic that was largely confined to elite circles until about two decades ago but is now widely debated.

I have been invited to present on GMMP data in a variety of settings, ranging from schools and universities to journalism courses and corporate training sessions on equal opportunity issues, as well as events organized by public institutions.

As we mark the GMMP’s 30th anniversary now in 2025, why do you believe that it is crucial for the GMMP to continue?

The upcoming edition of the GMMP comes at a crucial juncture for Italy and the European Union, with many women leading prominent institutions spearheading the drive for women’s media visibility.

Furthermore, there has been a growing push for greater female visibility, and many media outlets, starting with the Italian public media company (RAI), are working towards this goal. I anticipate witnessing accelerated progress compared to previous years.

I also look forward to connecting with new individuals within the GMMP network, as has always been the case with previous editions.

Monia Azzalini is a senior researcher associate at Osservatorio di Pavia.

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Meet the Coordinators | GMMP+30 | GMMP