A foremost Professor of mass communication and Director, UNIZIK FM, Chinyere Okunna says the media have the primary responsibility of closing the wide margin between men’s dominace in elective and appointive positions and women’s gross underrepresentation in Nigeria.
Professor Okunna stated this while delivering a lecture at a one day workshop for journalists on women and gender reporting organized by the Association of Commonwealth Universities and Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka.
The target of the workshop was to train journalists on enhancing women’s participation in politics, create a visibility for women in leadership positions and influence gender reportage in the media.
The workshop is part of the requirements for the fulfilment of the Association of Commonwealth Universities’ gender programme grant won by Professor Okunna.
Speaking on the theme, “Enhancing Women’s Participation in Politics and Visibility in Leadership”, Professor Okunna hinged her discussion on the saying that the media is the oxygen of democracy, thus stated the important roles they will play in creating the visibility of women in leadership positions.
Using Anambra as a case study, the communication scholar said that despite that statistics show that there is a minor disparity between the population of men and women and that Anambra women are highly educated, men still dominate political positions in the state.
Another resource person and gender scholar, Dr Chinedu Ekwealor of the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, called on members of the press to step up their action in the way they report women in politics and help to change the perception about women.
Earlier in an opening remark to declare the event opened, the Vice Chancellor, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Professor Charles Esimone said that the vision of the University is to become one of the leading two hundred Universities in the world cannot be achieved without the support of the media, the reason to ensure an active collaboration between the University and the media, to help sell the vision of the University to the world.
The workshop was attended by Journalists in print, broadcast, campus media organizations, and other multimedia channels led by the Anambra State Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists, Sir Emma Ifesinachi.
Others present at the event include the Director General, National Broadcasting Commission, Prof. Armstrong Idachaba, the Head, Department of Mass Communication UNIZIK , Professor Chinwe Uzochukwu and the Director of News and Current Affairs Department, Anambra Broadcasting Service, Mr Gab Okpaleze.
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