Journalists have been charged to make deliberate efforts in reports promoting the achievements of women in leadership positions and politics.
Executive Director Women Development Initiative , Mrs. Veronica Ogbole made the appeal during a workshop for political reporters in Maiduguri, Borno State.
She expressed concern on the little recognition accorded to women in the society and highlighted some crucial conventions and policies like the National Gender Policy that Nigeria has appropriated but has failed to guarantee women active inclusion in the affairs of the nation.
Ogbole stressed the negative impacts of the lack of women in statutory offices , which she attributed to socio cultural stereotype and biased policies that trivialize women’s ambitions.
The executive director urged journalists to give prominence to reportage of women in leadership positions and portray women positively to enhance their political participation in the 2023 elections and beyond.
Also speaking, CEO/Co-founder of Women Radio wfm 91.7 Toun Okewale Sonaiya urged journalists to research and engage women at all levels on different issues and avoid relegating women to stereotypical programmes.
Sonaiya encouraged journalists to collaborate and share reports on women for cross-publishing to reach a larger audience.
The participants expressed their commitment to adopting the shared recommendations on how to adequately report women positively across different media platforms.
They tasked female candidates to make themselves available to the media to enhance their support base.
The training is an initiative of Women Radio 91.7 in partnership with UN Women with support from the government of Canada.
COV/Lilian Silas