Conference on Media and Women Empowerment held in Accra

By Prosper Kofi Gepoase iboujiwuraanebo@gmail.com

ACCRA – October 21, 2022: Dignitaries from all over Africa have met in Accra at the sixth edition of the West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards to discuss “Media and women empowerment in Africa”. The two-day event was held at Alisa Hotel October 20 and 21.

The wife of the vice president of Ghana and advocate for women and girl child empowerment Samira Bawumia said women empowerment ought to shift from mere words and the giving of handouts.

“Women who are economically empowered are in a better position to have a meaningful impact on the society”.

She continued that women issues are underrepresented in the media even though women represent more than half of the population the world over. According to her, the 2015 global media monitoring project revealed serious gaps between men and women and in the report. Women make up only 24 % of the persons heard, read about or seen in the newspaper, television or the radio news.

“For our continent where there is a relative stagnation for women. There should be a delicate sustainable and urgent action if we want to achieve parity in the shortest possible time. It should start not only by giving women the voice but also by ensuring that they are protected from unnecessary attacks and unfair scrutiny that make participation in the media space unattractive”, she said.

The executive director of MFWA Sulemana Braimah said Africa cannot build any meaningful society with only a group of people called men and by that there should be equity and a fair playing ground for all.

“We need to let the voices of women be heard, acknowledged and known by all”, he said. “It’s not a coincidence that the chairperson and five out of the six managers of MFWA are women. We are doing what we preach and that is why we are succeeding”.

The founder for Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) Prof. Kwame Karikari said that Africa must build a solidified democracy in all the sub regions before talking of any form of empowerment.