Usman A. Bello & Hussein Yahaya
20 November 2008
Participants at a media training on 'Gender Mainstreaming and Legislative Advocacy in Nigeria' Monday in Abuja called on male journalists to support the fight against all forms of gender inequality in the country.
The media forum which was organised by Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), in conjunction with the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), witnessed an impressive turnout of both male and female journalists.
President of WARDC, Chinelo Ugochukwu said they organised the training to enlighten journalists, especially the male journalists of the need to support gender equity and to let them know that ladies are not fighting for female dominance but social justice and equity for both genders.
President of NAWOJ, Hajia Fatima Abdulkareem, decried the manner the media has been reporting issues concerning women.
She lamented that have been victims of bad journalism when they make faults , adding that men have been involved in serious corruption related offences but are not given the same coverage.
The NAWOJ leader said such damaging coverage's given to women always creates fear as well as stops them from further political endeavour.
"The media should help educate and protect women, so that they stay in politics like their men counterparts," she remarked.
Hajia Abdulkareem also called for equal featuring of females in media programmes to give them equal opportunities as their male counterparts.
She also called on the National Assembly to pass the Freedom of Information Bill (FOB), saying that politicians should embraced media criticisms and inculcate positive attitudes as well as promote good moral values.
Another participant, Dr Lydia Umar, Executive Director, Gender Action Team, said gender mainstreaming is a strategy that has been adopted to support women in realising that there is discrimination against women and the need to change the situation.
She said gender equality is not intended to over rule men's dignity but to make sure there is a level playing ground for both genders that will remove all forms of discrimination against women.
Dr Umar stated further that past governments have made oral commitment but the implementation is always very low, saying the media is vital to attitudinal change and she urged them to regard it as a collective responsibility to see that injustices are corrected.
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