By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
In order to strengthen political participation of women in Sierra Leone through media monitoring, a Gender Media Scorecard has been released which calls for increased gender sensitive reporting during the upcoming June 24th 2023 elections.
The Launch of a Policy Brief and 2023 Media Gender Scorecard on the coverage of women in politics took place last week at the Atlantic Hotel in Freetown.
The 2023 gender media scorecard research was said to have been implemented over twelve weeks and covered a total of 226 (two hundred and twenty six) stories published in newspapers, broadcast on radio and television, and disseminated on news websites.
The project which is supported by the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), highlights that the participation of women in media processes is said to be still alarmingly lagging, especially in access to decision-making posts, and continuing lack of representation.
Sierra Leone is noted to have made significant strides in promoting gender equality in recent years including the passing of a ‘groundbreaking’ gender equality law, but yet, there is still need for increased gender- sensitive reporting by the media during elections.
The low number of women in the media processes not only deprives them of equal treatment and opportunities, but also adds to the impression among the general public that they are still tied to their traditional roles despite their increasingly tangible contribution to Sierra Leone’s economic and political life.
A research funded by the Initiatives for Media Development (IMdev) through the UNWomen in the 2018 elections titled ‘Who made the news’ highlights an unhealthy imbalance in gender sensitivity.
“While there was evidence of an increase in the use of female sources as the weeks progressed, the overall picture was one dominated by male sources by a wider margin. TV also stood out as the media that did poorly, in terms of the use of female sources,” the research stated.
The scorecard emphasized the critical role the media plays in shaping public opinion and influencing political participation, and as such, women’s voices and perspectives are adequately represented. It described one of the cardinal roles of the media which is agenda-setting.
The analysis made in the scorecard revealed that men dominated media coverage during the period leading to elections (covering October 2022 to January 2023) with a limited representation of women in the news. It also pointed out that, the coverage of women candidates was often limited to their gender, with less focus on their political platforms or qualifications.
To ensure that both genders are represented in a fair and equal manner, the project calls for increased efforts towards sensitization and awareness-raising, leverage media influence to bring important issues related to inequality and gender bias to the forefront and sensitize media organizations on gender-sensitive reporting during the election period.
It also recommended to develop a gender equality policy or charter for the media and build a strong partnership with the sectoral ministries concerned and relevant stakeholders such as the Gender Media Advisory panel of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Women in the Media Sierra Leone (WIMSAL), Sierra Leone Association of Women in Journalism (SLAWIJ) and other organizations, for the effective application of the gender policy.
It ended by calling on the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) and other election bodies, to ensure that voter education captures the global quest for gender parity.
In his statement during the launch of the Policy, President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, recognized that gender inequality is a major challenge in the media in Sierra Leone. He acknowledged that discrimination, harassment and inequality on the basis of gender are not only limited to the media, and that SLAJ has made it a priority to deal with these issues within the industry.
He noted that the media in Sierra Leone is male-dominated, in terms of ownership and representation in leadership positions across individual media institutions as well as in SLAJ and its affiliate bodies. He stated that, out of a total of 850 (eight hundred and fifty) active SLAJ members only 170 (one hundred and seventy) are women.
“We see significant changes in the electronic media, but the print media still has a long way to go,” he said.
He said they have set up a Gender Advisory Panel that comprises members and people from civil society to advise the association on gender issues, and conduct periodic gender audits that inform on the way they formulate policies.
Copyright © 2023 Politico Online (27/02/23)
