NAN-HG-14
Gender
By Aisha Cole and Grace Alegba
Lagos, Jan. 20, 2017 (NAN) Mrs Ifeyinwa Omowole, the President, National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), has urged female journalists to report gender issues more passionately to inspire confidence in women.
Omowole gave the advice at a workshop on Gender Sensitive Reporting organised for female journalists in Lagos with the support of by the Norwegian Union of Journalists.
The NAWOJ president said reporting gender issues with so much passion would inspire self confidence in women.
Cue in audio (Omowole)
“When we cover it (gender issue), we should look at how it affects the young boys or the young girls in the environment; how does it affect the women?
“Most times women are the most discriminated against because of culture and tradition.
“We find that when we talk gender, we talk majorly about women and that is why it looks like gender is all about women.
“It is important for journalists to know that at the end of this programme, I expect a crop of journalists, who have now become gender sensitive in their reporting, to put on the gender lens and in every situation, they should use it.
“For instance, if there is violence or a market is raised down, first you think, there must be women in the market, who lost their goods and these women do not have access to finance.
“How do they recoup their investment?
“Then you go to them. They might even have suggestions for other women.
“One or two of them could have suggestions from your report for other women, who are affected by the fire.“
Cue out audio (Omowole)
The NAWOJ president advised women to be steadfast and not to quit so early, because in the end their perseverance would pay off.
The Chief Information Officer, Nasarawa State Ministry of Information, Mrs Veronica Ogbole, urged female journalists to improve their gender lens to assist them in their reports.
Ogbole, who was the former NAWOJ Coordinator Zone B, said increasing gender lens on female journalists would enable them to effectively and positively cover gender-based news.
She commended the more than 50 women journalists who participated in the training for their brilliant contributions and commitment; and further advised women to develop interest in politics.
“The women out there; mostly it’s to get education. After they get the education, whatever they are doing, they should make sure that they do it very well so that they too would be reckoned with.
“If you want to go into politics, go right from the grass roots, know what is happening; make sure you become relevant.
“Make sure we have more women in executive positions in the grassroots, because it is based on election.
“When it comes to the woman that is empowering a community, they will go and put it in page 45.
“So you do not get the prominence. Sometimes you are the woman editor that does not even have women pages to write your stories.
“You do not have a woman page to write your stories; so you have to go and start begging for maybe the Features page to help you publish your Female stories.
“So you are limited. I have so many ideas, I am a woman editor, yet I do not have a Woman Page.
Ojo, who was also one of the participants, pleaded with the newspaper publishers to create Female columns to enable them promote gender equality.
The Lagos State Chairman of NAWOJ, Hajia Sekinat Lawal, also an Assistant Editor with National Mirror Newspaper, advised children to always speak out when they were being cheated.
“As a matter of fact, we should train all our children to be bold enough to assert their rights, where ever they find themselves.
“We should train them to be confident. Wherever their rights are being trampled upon, they should speak out.
“Even when they are molested, a lot of them keep quiet; and that is why you see a lot of these people perpetrating evil at their expense,’’ Lawal said.
An Editor of Social Development News, an online publication, Mrs Funmi Falobi, commended the training, adding that the training had increased her knowledge of reporting gender issues.
“This training has opened my eyes wider to the fact that as a journalist, it behoves on me to report gender issues factually and objectively.
“It shows that gender issues are not just about women or girls because from what we have learnt, some issues also affect the boy child, so some issues are actually germane to both genders,’’ Falobi said. (NAN)
AIC/ AJA/DOR/YEE
Edited by Adeleye Ajayi/Nyisom Dore/Emmanuel Yashim
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