By Philip Tengzu
Tamale, (N/R), Sept. 12, GNA – Ms Melody Darkey, Executive Director of Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) Ghana, has called on journalists to abreast themselves with gender issues to enable them to engage in sustained advocacy to change society’s perspective about gender equality.
She said gender issues were conceived over a period, which required consistent and sustained advocacy and education to change those perceptions about gender issues including gender equality, gender roles and stereotypes.
Ms Darkey made the call in a presentation on gender and media reporting during a training for journalists from the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on public health, gender, climate change and sustainability and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) advocacy as part of the “Post COVID-19 Skills Development and Productivity Enhancement Project (PSDPEP).”
It was a five-year project funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) through the Social Investment Fund to build the capacity of journalists to effectively disseminate information in the post-pandemic era to help create an informed and resilient society.
The Institute of Digital Marketing and Communication (IDMC) Ghana facilitated the training for over 40 journalists and editors of the Agency from the Upper West, Upper East, Northern, Ashanti and Bono as well as Bono East and Ahafo Regions.
Ms Darkey indicated that having a proper understanding of gender-related issues would enable the journalists better inform their audience to help shape their thoughts about gender-related issues.
She emphasized that the media had a pivotal role in eliminating gender stereotypes and norms, which reinforced gender roles and perpetuated gender disparity as gender had become an important variable in planning processes.
She said journalists should be gender-sensitive in their reports by ensuring that both genders were fairly and equally represented to avoid reinforcing gender inequality in their reportage.
“Covering gender equality issues, and discussions should be treated as an important and integral part of the media’s role as a watchdog.
It is not only important that regular media content is gender-sensitive and considers all perspectives, but media can also be a tool to raise awareness and advocate on women’s issues and concerns related to gender,” Ms Darkey explained.
She dispelled the misconception that gender equality discussions were to embolden women to usurp control over men, but it was to create a common ground for both men and women to thrive.
She said gender inequality manifested in many ways including access to and control over resources and emphasised a need for sustained action to challenge gender stereotypes, raise awareness of gender issues, and advocate policy change, among others.
Ms Darkey pointed out that gender equality was not a “straight jacket” equality between men and women as perceived by a section of the public but a “substantive equality,” thus, equality of opportunities and outcomes.
Presenting on advocacy reporting, Mr Charles Yao Mawusi, a Communications Consultant at IDMC Ghana, indicated that the journalists should craft reports that appealed to the senses of the targeted audience as that would trigger the expected reaction to the advocacy issue.
He said to achieve the expected advocacy results, the story could focus on the legal consequences of the advocacy issue; educating and creating awareness of the impact of the problem; suggesting incentives, pointing to the benefits and personal interests of the people in the advocacy issue and naming and shaming people perpetuating that issue.
Mr Mawusi encouraged the journalists to employ innovative strategies in their advocacy to increase acceptance of the advocacy message on gender equality by focusing on its potential benefit to the people.
The participants shared insight into gender-related issues in society including the cultural values and norms that excluded women from active participation in the decision-making process at the family and community levels.
Ms Beatrice Asamani Savage, the Director of Editorial at GNA, acknowledged the important role of women in meaningful decision-making processes to contribute to community and national development.
She encouraged the participants to take the gender advocacy training seriously to increase their advocacy to help change the narrative of gender-related norms, stereotypes, and misconceptions for inclusive development.
GNA