Forum discusses women’s participation in public discourse

Discussants at a forum organised by the Foundation for Security Development in Africa (FOSDA) have urged political parties and media houses to institute proactive and sustained measures to enhance women’s participation in public discourse.

According to them, low self-esteem, low level of education, cultural practices, and fear of being aligned to political parties, were some of the challenges confronting women in their efforts to participate in public discourse.

They were speaking at a forum on gender equality policy guidelines for media and political parties organised in Accra on Thursday, on the theme: “Promoting women’s participation in public discourse: A guide for media and political parties”.

Present were editors from various media houses and representatives from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Convention Peoples Party (CPP).

The forum was also used to build the capacity of the media and political parties to enhance women’s participation in public discourse.

FOSDA

FOSDA is a non-governmental organisation which focuses on promoting the development of comprehensive human security by working to realise the lasting potential of communities and individuals through a systematic and effective sharing of information, knowledge and skills.

Developing leaders

Speaking at the forum, the Programmes Officer of FOSDA, Mrs Theodora Williams-Anti, stressed the need for political parties to establish empowerment programmes to develop the leadership capacities of women in their parties.

She said “women should be encouraged to take up positions in parties to improve their communication skills and be motivated to participate in all political programmes”.

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“Political parties and media houses should adopt affirmative action measures to ensure they have a pool of women trained and empowered to participate in these programmes,” she added.

Feedback mechanisms, Mrs Williams-Anti said, should be provided to encourage women’s involvement in certain programmes.

Constraints

Addressing constraints on women’s engagement with the media, the Executive Director of FOSDA, Ms Afi Yakubu, said gender stereotyping affected women’s effective participation in public decision-making, and called on media houses to help address the issue of gender stereotyping.

“Besides women holding the traditional positions of women’s organiser, political parties should establish and follow innovations to encourage women to vie for other positions in political parties.