IWD 2023: WOJAG Want Gender Equity In Gambian Media, Others

         

By Sheriff Saidykhan

The Women Journalist Association of The Gambia (WOJAG)  joins the rest of the world to mark this year's International Women's Day yesterday under the THEME “DigitAll. Innovation and Technology for Gender equality”.

While the theme is putting spotlight on women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education, WoJAG believes it’s important to highlight the gender inequalities that exist in the Gambian media. The media in The Gambia is operating in a patriarchal society with unequal power relations between men and women which put women at the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder and render them vulnerable to different forms of rights violation. 

While women journalist play pivotal roles in the development of the Gambian media, working as reporters, presenters, editors, producers, technicians, managers and media proprietors, they continue to face challenges such as; gender inequality, sexual harassment and low pay amongst others in media houses across the country. 

A study on the working conditions of media workers in the country conducted by the Gambia Press Union in 2020, reveals that 37 percent of media workers are female. While this shows that the media is largely dominated by men, the report also shows that significant gaps exist when conditions for both men and women are compared at all levels, especially in terms of pay, positions, and even treatment.

It is important to note that many women journalists have acquired the necessary knowledge and skills over the past years which shows that there isn’t a lack of knowledge and skills among women journalists. Yet, editorial boards and decision-making positions in newsrooms continue to be mainly dominated by men.

Lolly Camara, the Vice President of Women Journalist Association highlighted the need for gender equity in the newsrooms.  

“For the Gender issues, we want our members to push more, advance themselves professionally, then it will be easy to break those barriers in our newsroom,” she posited. 

She said the Women Journalist Association is closely working in tandem with the Gambia Press Union on the effective implementation of the sexual harassment policy of the union.

“We are trying to work closely with the GPU on the issues of the sexual harassment policy, so that our members are aware of their rights and know what to do when their rights are violated,” she said.