In its bid to make its Digital Diplomacy courses more inclusive and gender-responsive, the Foreign Service Institute of the Philippines (FSI) requested learning sessions that will apply a gender perspective to their courses. In partnership with the FSI team, FemmeLab came up with two modules that were integrated into their courses: (1) Public Diplomacy and Global Reputation Management and (2) Public Diplomacy and Social Media.

These courses include project ideation exercises for #FilipinoFridays, an online global campaign to promote the best of the Philippines through Instagram (IG) posts on all Fridays of 2022, taking on from the success of #FilipinoFashionFridays.

The first module, Using a Gender Lens in Promoting the Philippine Nation Brand, included topics on the masculine/feminine dimensions of national cultures; barriers in gender-positive branding; and strategies for gender-responsive media production.

The second module, Using a Gender Lens on Social Media Images and Language, included topics on social media and gender; gender-responsive visual narratives; and gender-fair language.

At the end of the sessions, the draft outputs of the participants were checked for gender-responsiveness and were given recommendations for improvement. For example, in the first IG post below, the caption was flagged for gender bias manifested through the use of “fishermen”, a masculine form, to describe all fisherfolks. In contrast, the succeeding set of IG posts were commended for featuring women in the fishing industry, who are rarely recognized and shown in mainstream media and development communications.

Partner: Foreign Service Institute of the Philippines

Project duration: May-June 2021