AWMA Empowers Female Journalists on Election Reporting.

Accra: The Alliance for Women in Media Africa (AWMA) has organised a two-day training for selected female journalists to empower them on journalists' safety and election reporting to help shape the country's democracy. The pioneering initiative was aimed at empowering female journalists to take an active role in shaping Ghana's democratic future through their reporting on the 2024 general elections and equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to participate effectively in the electoral process.According to Ghana News Agency, Ms Mercy Adjabeng, the Convenor for AWMA, stated that the objective of the initiative, which was supported by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), included educating women journalists on their safety when taking coverage of the elections, adding that as they seek to stand tall with their male counterparts, their safety is paramount. Ms Adjabeng noted that most female journalists were discriminated against in their quest to cover elections, adding that women journalists could bring out the gender perspective of the elections, such as how many women were contesting for the various positions, how visible they were, and whether they were getting enough coverage.She urged the female journalists to connect with each other and work as a team, advising them against the perception that some media houses were unique and superior to others, preventing them from associating with and showing support for each other. According to her, such acts were one of the things that killed their self-esteem and undermined the power they could derive from coming together to fight the gender biases towards women.Professor Audrey Gadzekpo, the patron for AWMA, encouraged women to stand up and aspire to win, as any time a woman failed, it meant all women had failed. She said female journalists must make the presence of women contesting be seen, adding that they must look at the number of women in parliament and whether they would retain their seat. She said t he Affirmative Action Bill must be a springboard to build the capacity of women ahead of the 2028 election to get more women to contest for political positions and win.Mr Kweku Krobea Asante, Senior Programmes Officer of the Media Foundation for West Africa and a facilitator at the training, said gender-based violence were often targeted at women seeking positions to push them away from the public space and cause them to withdraw from politics, as it was aimed at discrediting women from being seen as worthy for the role they were seeking to occupy. Mr Asante said gender disinformation must be treated with seriousness instead of being a subset of online gender-based violence, which often made it covered, adding that when false information targeted women, it must be picked up and focused on.'We should have more education and track gender disinformation, those behind it, and those it targets. We should challenge such narratives for them to know that people have seen what they are doing and give support to wo men being targeted,' he added.