Alliance For Women In Media Holds Maiden Summit

The Alliance for Women in Media Africa (AWMA) has hosted its maiden summit on the state of Ghanaian women in media on Tuesday, March 20, 2018, at the British Council Hall in Accra

The summit brought together women, stakeholders, and patrons from the media and communication industry to address the issue of gender inequality in the media landscape.

A set of two different panels took their turns to discuss the state of women journalists in Ghana and their role in advancing the country's socio-economic agenda in line with the theme “Shaping our Future: Women in Media Ghana – a Conversation among Stakeholders”.

Speakers present for the event included Professor Audrey Gadzekpo, Dr. Sarah Akrofi-Quarcoo, Nana Yaa Ofori-Atta, Edith Dankwah, Nhyira Addo and Nana Aba Anamoah.

AWMA Founder and Convener, Shamima Muslim Alhassan, was optimistic that the rollout of the program every year will align it with the international women's day to bridge the gender parity gap in the industry and empower more women.

“We are hoping that it will become an annual affair in March, to hold a conversation on a relevant theme of the day, and we thought that since it's our maiden event we should have a conversation, first of all, to find out, where have women in media and Ghana come from, what is the story, who are the trailblazers, who are those setting the pace, and whose shoulders are those we stand today as women in media,” she told Citi News.

“People will be directed to places where they can find support and help to learn if only they are willing because they have to be willing to be able to take advantage of the opportunities that are around them. A lot of women don't negotiate for their salaries, and it's also because they don't know what value they bring to the table, so we need to understand how the media industry works, we need to understand what we are bringing to the table, because we are putting in a lot of hours sometimes to the detriment of our relationship, and we cannot lose sight of that.”

She also said their advocacy was “not a battle of the sexes.”

“It is women in media saying that we are part of the media and we will always e in the media, how do we work to ensure that we build our capacity to contribute value to our employers, to our workplaces, and how do we also work to set the sight a bit higher, for women to aspire not only to become employees but to also get to become employers.”