Assemblywomen: Media Are Biased Against Us

FEMALE assembly members in the Northern Region have pleaded with the media to give them publicity to enable them to compete with their male counterparts.

They said much attention and publicity had always been in favour of their men to their disadvantage and that there was the need to reverse the trend to ensure that their concerns and political activities are given equal attention to promote women participation in politics.

The Northern Region Assembly Women’s Caucus on Good Governance (NORWACGG), a wing of the Women’s Group in Politics, raised these concerns in Tamale at a consultative forum to deliberate on issues affecting women politicians.

The NORWACGG was established in 2007 by assembly women in 10 districts of the Northern Region.

Its mission is to promote the welfare of women in the region through advocacy, capacity building and training whiles working with existing institutions in communities, districts and regional levels to promote its mission.

The women said the media should design programmes to highlight and project them through air-time on radio, television stations and special pages in newspapers should be devoted to their activities

The group said there had been an increase in the number of women elected assembly members in the country from three per cent in 1994 to 10 per cent in 2006.

They said the situation was not desirable considering the numerical strength of women in the country and the major roles they play in the development of the country.