Participants at the just concluded IPC/NAWOJ consultative meeting have recommended that NAWOJ and female media executives lend support to the advocacy for electoral reforms that promote affirmative action and legislations that seek to give better representation for women including but not limited to the bills for reserve seats for women and independent candidacy.
In a 12 point communique signed by the IPC’s Executive Director Lanre Arogundade and NAWOJ Deputy National President, Dr Lilian Okonkwo Ogabu they noted that reluctance of some women leaders in the media to offer mentorship further limits opportunities for rising female journalists.
“Due to fear of retaliation and ingrained biases, many women are reluctant to pursue leadership positions, stalling their professional development.
The lack of adequate skills and training, particularly in stenography, hinders journalists, especially women, from maximizing accuracy and efficiency in their reporting”, the participants noted in regrets.
They further explained that workplace opposition, gender biases, and political hurdles continue to deter women from seeking leadership positions, limiting their ability to advance professionally adding that many female politicians struggle to secure funding and institutional backing, limiting their ability to campaign effectively and sustain political ambitions.
Participants who regretted that in many patriarchal societies, women, including female journalists, often view themselves as victims or second-class citizens, which hinders their confidence and leadership, maintained that cultural constraints have made women in political positions become hesitant to engage with the media resulting to reduced visibility and influence.
They also recommended that NAWOJ and female media executives should deliberately engage with and report the achievements of elected women politicians as a strategy to amplify women’s success stories through storytelling that shifts public perceptions positively and encourages citizens to continue to support women at elections.
NAWOJ was asked to encourage female journalists to continuously enhance their professional skills by embracing online training and utilizing the modules to be developed by the International Press Centre and Centre for Media and Society on their planned Virtual Training Platform as co-implementers of Component 4: Support to media of EU-SDGNII.
They asked to collaborate with IPC to host regular forums for female media executives to address newsroom challenges and explore career growth opportunities for female journalists while launching mentorship initiatives where senior professionals guide young journalists. Stressing the need for NAWOJ to drive awareness campaigns with empowering messages like “I Can, We Can” to strengthen women’s confidence in professional and political spaces as well as encourage members to create dedicated media platforms that give greater voices to women and spotlight gender-related issues, participants enjoined NAWOJ to collaborate with security agencies to integrate discussions on women’s safety into training programs inorder to address threats faced in political spaces.
