Girlguiding Scotland’s Media Mindful campaign

That this House congratulates Girlguiding Scotland on the launch of its Media Mindful campaign to support girls and young women to challenge sexism in the media; understands this campaign has been created by the charity’s Speak Out champions, a group of young women age 14-25; notes the campaign stems from Girlguiding Scotland’s forthcoming Girls in Scotland research, which found 68% of girls aged 11-21 feel newspapers, magazines and influencers on social media need to do more to stop reinforcing gender stereotypes; further notes the group has worked with the University of Strathclyde and Gender Equal Media Scotland to create the Media Mindful challenge pack with activities to develop media literacy skills; expresses concern that gender stereotypes and sexism in the media are having a negative impact on the happiness and mental health of many girls and young women; recognises the calls by the Speak Out champions on media outlets to commit to taking a gender sensitive approach when creating content, to promote a diverse range of women, and to treat women equally as content creators, contributors, employees and subjects; notes the organisation is encouraging everyone to take part in a week of action between 23-29 November 2020 in the ChangeTheHeadline challenge on Twitter, to correct sexist news headlines; and encourages politicians to support the campaign by taking part in the week of action, calling out gender stereotyping in the media when they see it, and by sharing the Media Mindful supporter sign on their social media channels.