Women in media asked to challenge status quo

The Executive Director of GDA Media Limited, Oheneyere Gifty Anti, has urged women in media to up their game and add value to their work in order to challenge the status quo and beat the usual discrimination against them.

She explained that although there had been many policies and seminars to encourage women, there were still some sort of discrimination in one way or the other which called for women to make their voices to be heard.

Ms Anti, who was speaking at the launch of Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) Equal Voices project, said in order for female voices to be heard and prove that indeed women can thrive in every space, it was important for them to get their facts and figures right and challenge why they needed to be in that space.

"We have to be constantly adding value to ourselves, we have to do our research, we have to get our arsenals ready to defend and challenge why, as women, we deserve to be in that space," she said.

Project

The Equal Voices project is a collaboration by MFWA, and France's Canal France International (CFI) to combat gender inequalities and stereotypes in the media in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

The project, which also encourages managers of media outlets to promote better representation of women in managerial practices and editorial policies, would train eight journalists from eight media outlets from Ghana and Ivory Coast.

The Executive Director of MFWA, Sulemana Braimah, said the underrepresentation of women in media was not just in Ghana and Africa but a global issue.

"Over the years, many initiative have been taken to address the challenge but there is still much more to be done because it is not just an equality issue but an issue of injustice," he said.

The Deputy Director-General of CFI, Alan Dreanic, said the media had a role to play in changing mindset and priorities.

He, therefore, encouraged all to join forces and ensure that women gain equal access to every opportunity there was within the media profession.