The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in partnership with the French media development agency, Canal France International (CFI), has trained 32 female journalists, including freelancers, in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire on women empowerment.
The initiative forms part of efforts to promote gender equality in the media in the two countries under the project titled Equal Voices. The objective of the project is to combat gender inequalities and stereotypes while promoting women at all levels of responsibility in Ivorian and Ghanaian societies through gender-aware and gender-sensitive media practices.
The women empowerment training strengthened the skills and leadership capacities of the female journalists to feel able to pursue professional aspirations and career goals contributing to a better representation of women and their concerns in the media. It also enhanced their knowledge on the concepts, theories and underpinnings of gender and women’s rights, challenges and critical trends as well as the media’s role in promoting women empowerment.
In her remarks at the opening of the training, in Ghana, the MFWA’s Programme Director for Media and Good Governance, Abigail Larbi, bemoaned the dwindling numbers of females in editorial and leadership roles in news media organisations and encouraged participants to avail themselves for such roles.
“When we continue to discuss issues confronting gender inequality, and we’re emboldened to speak up, we get empowered as women. We need to take up positions and also be at the top with the men. There’s more than enough room for both women and men,” he said.
The training workshop, in addition, enhanced the capacities of the female journalists to advocate for and develop organizational policies that foster women’s representation as agents of change.
Participants also engaged in practical story development sessions, receiving guidance to produce and publish more gender-sensitive reports contributing to a more balanced and inclusive representation in media.
Some seasoned media managers and news editors were also invited to share their leadership journeys and challenges with the participants. Issues such as conflict management, supervisor-subordinate relationship, male competition, public speaking and managing online presence were highlighted.
Some of the participating female journalists shared their feedback on the training.
Christiana Anyang-Mintah from Garden City Radio said “This workshop has been very enlightening. I have come to be more self-aware. I’m also taking away lessons on how to better work with people within my professional environment as well as external characters who may influence my work in one way or another. My output on gender-sensitive reports will be more than I was producing prior to participating in this training.”
In September 2023, the MFWA and CFI launched the Equal Voices project to strengthen the capacities of female and male media professionals to establish and develop managerial and editorial policies that promote a better representation of women and a more balanced gender representation.
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