Reporters have been urged to ensure fair reportage of women in politics.
United Nations Women (UNWomen) and Women Radio spoke at a two-day training on gender sensitive reporting for political reporters in Lagos.
The training, with support from Canadia, focused on adjusting imbalance in gender coverage of political actors.
It brought to the fore under reportage of women in politics which, according to a research by International Press Centre (IPC) in 2015, was just five per cent.
The report, monitoring 30 national newspapers between November 2014 and March 2015, showed that of 13,449 politician sources quoted, 12,777 (95 per cent) were men while 672 (five per cent) were women.
UNWomen’s Country Representative Beatrice Eyong urged the media to intensify efforts in ensuring reports on women use gender-sensitive language, promote rights of women and children, as well as avoid unconscious biases.
Eyong stressed the need to include women in decision-making in Nigeria to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Chief Executive Officer of Women Radio Toun Okewale Sonaiya appealed to participants to go the extra mile to get women’s voices reflected in their reports.
Executive Director of Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism Motunrayo Alaka urged reporters to keep reporting issues on women.
Dr Seyi Soremekun, national Information officer at United Nations, asked journalists to avoid stereotypical comments and generalisations.
Gender and Media Strategist Ene Ede said participants should amplify women in a male-dominated society and ensure balance in reports.