Mónica Bottero, director of InMujeres, participated in the class “Event Production, Ceremonial, and Protocol,” taught by Professor Claudia Calace, as part of the Corporate Communication and Public Relations Analyst program. The session took place virtually on Thursday, May 7.
Bottero, a writer by profession with a background in journalism, spoke with the students about how to organize an event with a gender perspective in mind.
First, she recommended approaching planning through a “gender lens.” “This allows us to see how we can prevent and stop contributing to the perpetuation of attitudes or ways of thinking that might encourage or promote violence against women,” she argued.
Bottero emphasized that this perspective should be applied at every stage of event planning and management: organization, logistics, programming, promotion, selection of the venue and the “face” that will represent it, as well as during the event itself.
First, we must design an artistic program that promotes equality rather than reinforcing a perspective that devalues women. As for the location, it is important to recognize that it is not the same for a group of women to travel alone to a remote location with poor safety conditions as it is to do so in a central location with good lighting and easy access to public transportation. According to the national youth survey, young women perceive the street as a risky place.
During the event, measures must be taken to prevent “any form of psychological or physical harassment.” For example, consideration should be given to the location of restroom facilities, ensuring they are not situated in a remote area or “where safety conditions could endanger attendees.”
Regarding the event’s spokesperson, Bottero said that it does not necessarily have to be a woman but that “ideally, it could be either a man or a woman,” although the most important thing is to consider “what image those people convey, what their personal brand or public image is like.”
It’s important to ensure consistency—that everything done during the event aligns with its purpose and spirit. There are many other potential issues to consider, but the key is to keep a close eye on things to continue identifying specific situations.
Professor Claudia Calace explained that it is always important to have a communication strategy “that highlights gender issues to raise awareness before, during, and after the event.”
From a communications perspective, then, the challenge “is to recognize that every time we communicate, we create an impact—whether positive or negative—so we must be very careful about the language and content of our strategy.”
Event organizers face the challenge of creating enjoyable, unique, and distinctive experiences. When designing these events, adopting a gender-sensitive perspective will be a great help in overcoming these challenges.
He also emphasized that communication is also reflected in the messages conveyed to event attendees: for example, “by ensuring gender equality in the selection of staff, speakers, and artistic programs, demonstrating that both men and women can perform the same tasks.”
At the start of the semester, Calace explained, the students were divided into different committees to design a hypothetical event that they would work on and research in order to present their required project. The event is a music concert to be held at La Rural del Prado for an audience of 2,000 people, with the goal of promoting the arrival of the Spanish foundation Ana Bella, which focuses on raising awareness about gender-based violence. For that reason, they invited the director of InMujeres to share her insights, to learn about the work she is currently doing in the area of gender-based violence.