ABANTU for Development holds workshop for selected female journalists in Ghana

ABANTU for Development has held a day's workshop for selected female journalists in Accra with a call on media practitioners to focus more on gender-sensitive issues.

This, according to the women-focused NGO, was necessary in the quest to promote gender equity in Ghana and Africa at large.

As part of the workshop, a 100-minute documentary dubbed "When Women Speak", on the history of the fight of some legendary Ghanaian women's rights activists was aired to open the platform for participants to share their views.

The workshop was a component of a project titled 'Using Historical Film to Challenge Misrepresentation and Inform Practice on Gender Activism in Ghana. The workshop was fully funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council's Impact Acceleration Account (University of Bristol).

The documentary was directed by Ms. Aseye Tamakloe and produced by Prof. Akosua Adomako and Prof. Kate Skinner.

Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop, the Executive Director of Abantu For Development, Dr. Rose Mensah-Kutin said the workshop aimed at training journalists to educate the general public, most importantly women, on the importance of gender struggle and also how the film could be made accessible and useful to the public.

She indicated that the scope of the documentary will help women to understand the need to support each other through gender struggles.

The film addresses a range of issues such as Widowhood, intestate succession, legal aid for women, Violence against women and girls, Women in the media, Affirmative action and the challenges facing women candidates for elected positions, and Movement building and communication between older and younger activists.

She, therefore, called on other gender activism groups to join hands with the already existing ones to achieve the common goal, and most especially promote the film to reach the masses.