Media practitioners have been urged to seek knowledge to bridge the gender equality gap as part of their roles in amplifying messages, educating the public , promoting exclusivity , holding institutions accountable ,inspiring action thus facilitating dialogue for an equitable society.
Ms Margaret B Sentamu the executive director uganda media women’s association ,(UMWA) said that there was still a lot of knowledge gap, ignorance above so many things among the media practitioners attributed mainly to cultures that have steered stereotypical narratives among the society.
“We need a very strong , urging and intentional intervention to address the knowledge gap among the media practitioners and also the managers because a media it is in the center, once you impact the media other sectors are also going to be affected,” Margrete note
Statistics show that over the years, Uganda media women association has trained about 900 female journalists in the country and over 500 female journalists in areas of safety and security within the recent decade however the efforts remain a drop in the ocean.
With over 300000 journalists in this country and the practice getting more porous, having talent increasingly getting into the media space without proper understanding of issues disseminated but rather focusing on the social influence and driving news to their media houses becomes a threat to the country.
Ms BrBrendNamata a communications and advocacy officer, umwa says unfortunately the gap in understanding the essence of having gender in the media practice still remains disadvantaged with majority of the training institutions having not a gender training curriculum or even main streaming gender with in their instructions of media training
This therefore affects continuous and sustain capacity building of journalists as far as gender sensitive reporting is concerned
“It is important that media is prioritized as a thematic partner in the implementation of program activities towards development agenda in the country and not as a facilitator that offers publicity to other programs, ” Namata said.
She added, “Even with the media as a cross cutting issue if it does not have knowledge of women’s rights and centering them the efforts towards accelerating women empowerment in this country would be watered down by how the media chooses to present the efforts made in the empowerment of women in the country.”
The addressing of gender issues for tackling the unfinished business in the media space thus remains a multi leveled and all stakeholders call to action as it is evident that the issues affecting men and women are dynamic and experienced differently in society and therefore needs involvement in the interventions to the dynamic factors
Mr Dick Nvule , Editor Radio Simba noted that media could however start by creating content which inspires women to be in the media space but also put them in leadership roles but also give information about key achievements of women in the country
He adds that people are never in the media space to fill space but because they have content to tell the world and thus women need to position themselves strategically and not portray themselves as liabilities
Ms Patricia Nyasuna, Gender Focal Point Horizon 3000 noted that all stakeholders need to be keen on identifying unique challenges of women even in the media, support them and guarantee safe spaces to speak out without reprisals
She noted that we should however not look at what has been done but focus on the best fit and not necessarily the best practice but the best fit to learn from previous experiences however through comprehensive and accurate coverage of women issues and depict women as fully realized individuals with agency
