Title: Documentary Films as a Safe Space to Promote Gender Equity in Higher Education Settings in Mozambique

This essay is inspired by the living experience of an African feminist woman and media practitioner who believes that media, especially documentary films, is an important safe space where marginalized and alternative agendas, such as gender equity and social justice, are addressed, presented, and normalized in the public sphere. In this paper, feminist film theory is used to conceptualize the debate on documentary films incorporating female media practitioners and their agendas into the media industry, the challenges that women face as professionals in a male-dominant profession, as well as the role of the academia in promoting and shaping a generation of media professionals that values women's leadership, and understands the power of media as a public pedagogy, committed to a democratic and inclusive society. Finally, this essay proposes the development of a media criticism syllabus that relies on the feminist pedagogy to introduce, reflect, and prepare journalism students at Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique to analyse and practice alternative agendas regarding gender equity and social justice.