From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
The AWiM2022 conference which took place in Fez, Morocco provided ample opportunities to address gender equality in and through the media.
The conference drew hundreds of women from different countries and organisations across Africa and the diaspora.
The sixth annual conference themed: ‘United in Action’ aimed to devise ways of achieving gender equality in and through the media using collaborative efforts of media experts, academia, and policymakers among others.
Many of the conversations sought to examine the media landscape both from larger and smaller scales. Key topics such as online harassment, newsroom funding, and editorial relationships are factors that can make or break a story.
South African journalist and SABC Foreign Editor Sophie Mokoena reflected on vital lessons learned from earlier in her career.
At the time, discrimination was particularly rife in the news industry and Mokoena realised it wasn’t just her image that was being assessed by colleagues and the public.
“I had to be very strong to represent women well,” she recalled.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela was one of the notable figures that helped to instil confidence in her.
She pointed out feeling heard and respected in conferences and events where her input was valued.
“That gave me some courage that there are people who recognise my skills.”
Though there may be more conversations about African female inclusion, cyber harassment has ushered in a new era of unease. Editors need to be up to the challenge.
“Online there’s a lot of bullying and we’re not prepared for that kind of stuff…the solution is constant training and support. Assure your journalists that you will be there to support them.”
Mulu Zelalem, a masters’ student at Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia was the first speaker on the Fojo supported panel. She spoke vividly about the challenges female students face in higher education institutions in the country.
One of the main issues was sexual harassment.
At the same university she is studying for her masters, 35 per cent of female students reported that they were sexual harassment survivors in studies from 2013 and 2015.
“Female students are harassed by lecturers or their peers and so indirectly and directly they face challenges within the institution,” she explains.
She also pointed out how there is also a concern for the underrepresentation women receive in education, media and communications: “ The majority of female students that enrol leave their studies early and commonly you find that they are studying journalism and media degrees, this then leads to case lower representations of women in the media.”
African Women in Media also announced its plan to launch a media fellowship for women journalists in Nigeria and Kenya to improve the media representation of young women politicians in the two countries.
This was revealed by Dr Yemisi Akinbobola, the CEO and Co-founder of the organisation during a panel discussion on the last day of the conference.
The fellowship is made possible through AWiM’s partnership with Luminate, an organisation working to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in civic and political life.
During the panel discussion titled “Women in politics”, Dr Akinbobola revealed that the program will run for 12 months with the aim of increasing and improving the media coverage of young women in politics.
“The project will research the gaps and opportunities in how media currently engage with young women in politics and create media toolkits and guidelines to help address these gaps.” Dr Akinbobola said.
The conference ended by announcement of winners of the African Union Agenda 2063 Awards Pitch Zone in partnership with the African Union.
Winners,received $3000 to support their production of in-depth, data-rich and evidenced-based stories that reflect the progress and impact of the implementation of Agenda 2063 under each thematic area.
As the conference came to an end, Dr Akinbobola urged for “an explicit call to the global media, especially African ones, to cover global issues without bias or discrimination, such as gender equality, culture and gender, as well as issues of the environment and global peace.”
The president and co-founder of the International Institute of Languages and Culture in Fez, who was also one of the organising partners of the conference, Dr Moha Ennaji, called for, ”encouraging women in the media field to enter editorial, management and administrative decision-making positions.” He stated that this would enhance dialogue between media women in the African continent, and strengthen cooperation between media professionals in government media departments and their counterparts in private media companies.