The Alliance for Women in Media (AWMA), has trained journalists in the Ashanti region to adopt gender sensitive approaches in their reportage.
Female aspirants partaking in the upcoming district level elections in December were also trained on improving their communication skills.
AWMA recognizes that women are rights-holders as citizens and residents of the communities they live in, therefore, local-level deliberative processes must factor in and be shaped by women’s perspectives and insights.
Statistics show low participation and representation of women in Ghanaian politics and governance, although they constitute more than half of the country’s population.
Available statistics indicate that female-elected members constitute less than 5% of the country’s local governance system.
It was estimated that they constituted 3.8% of the 6,270 memberships, and out of 6,033, there were only 246 women.
Convener for the Alliance for Women in Media Africa, Shamima Muslim, believes “the media are critical partners in shaping an inclusive local governance landscape”.
She urged the media, “to ensure fairness, balanced, and accurate coverage of issues regarding women”.
The programme, supported by the Canada Fund for Local Initiative (CFLI) also seeks to increase the visibility of women candidates in the 2023 district-level elections.
Head of Communication Studies at the University of Ghana, Dr Abena Yeboah-Banin, advised the media to use gender-neutral language instead of sexist language in their reportage.
She also wants the media, “to avoid stereotypes and biases in reporting on gender-sensitive issues.”
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