Life of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, has called for the eradication of discrimination and violence against women and girls.
Mrs. Ambode spoke at her office in Alausa, Ikeja, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
She noted that violence against women and girls remained one of the most devastating human rights violence in the world, saying achieving gender parity would require more vigorous efforts and legal frameworks, to tackle established anti-female practices.
Her words: “Everyone has the right to live their life without the threat of violence. This holds for everyone irrespective of age, gender, religion or any other characteristics of human identity.
‘’We must unite to end these acts by supporting the passing and implementation of laws to protect girls and women from child marriage, female genital mutilation, domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment. We must also agitate for proper monitoring and evaluation.
The First Lady added that prevention of violence against women and girls must begin early, stressing that children and young ones must learn the principles of equality, respect and non-violence for future generations.
She urged women and girls to speak up and report discrimination and abuse to appropriate government agencies for immediate action.
National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Ajina Branch, Mushin, have denied plans to evict market women at the motor park .
Its chairman, Comrade Shina Adegboro said: “We are peace-loving people conducting our businesses with utmost caution and discipline without interfering in the affairs of others. We have co-existed with the market women for several years. There was no time the women were told to vacate the motor park. We advise that all issues should be referred to and sorted out at the Mushin Local Government under whose jurisdiction we operate’’
Adegboro said the traders were being emotional about simple issues, adding “we are not in any way responsible for their plight. We appeal to the women to sheathe their swords and seek audience with appropriate authority.”
President of Liberia, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is hopeful that the erection of a statue in her honour in Imo State will inspire young girls and women in the continent to reach their potentials.
She made the remark while delivering a lecture on the topic “Women in Politics” at the International Convention Centre Owerri adding that as a continent Africa has some good reasons to celebrate.
The statue was unveiled after the lecture.
“We can achieve our dreams. We can stand tall among the many women of the world in providing the kind of exemplary leadership that will lift us up to stand, as I stand representing women,” Sirleaf said.
While unveiling the statue, Governor Rochas Okorocha said Sirleaf has done Africa in particular proud and the world at large, stressing that the Liberian President deserves every honour because she has remained a woman of inspiration.
Sirleaf said her election as the first woman to be democratically elected President in the African continent was a strong signal to all the women and girls in Africa.
According to her, it also signaled a new dawn with the prospect of leveling the playing field between men and women in politics in Africa.
The Liberian President was in Owerri for a 2-day visit on the invitation of Rochas Foundation College of Africa.
“Women in Africa are still behind in Politics due to social, cultural, economic and political constraints that limit their political participation. And the women in Africa have to do much more to get the equality that we all seek”.
“Quality education changes the attitude and mindset of people. And equality means better performance, and also means better life for everyone. Hence, we need to put more emphasis on education to enhance performance. And that is why what the Imo Governor, Rochas Okorocha is doing with his Foundation should be encouraged”.
“In our political parties we need to put more emphasis on recruiting female candidates including in and outside politics. Our governments need to do more to putting female in up and down the hierarchy. We need to ensure that we as women take the advantages that we have and develop a strategy to deal with the disadvantages we face”.
It’s now been four years since Athina Marmorat decided to take on the fight against social inequality at her own level by founding Rêv’Elles. This association supports and mentors young women from deprived areas and helps them tap into their potential.
“I don’t think they realise just how life changing this experience can be”, said 15-year-old Tatia, still overwhelmed with emotion at the impact that Rêv’Elles has had on her. The young woman, who once lacked self-confidence, was on the verge of dropping out of school before joining Rev’Elles. Now, after her time in the programme, she has a well-planned life project and is able to, in her own words, “see further and project into the future.” When Athina Marmorat founded the association on December 25, 2013, she set out to offer young girls – often unemployed, unoccupied and lacking direction – the chance to find themselves and realise their full potential.
The idea came to Marmorat while she was working with students in the Parisian suburbs. She realised that the kind of ambitions they expressed for the future were worryingly monotonous, which left her feeling bitter. Limited by their social milieu and confining themselves to the neighborhood they lived in, “they weren’t seeing the wider world”, “they weren’t aiming high enough nor dreaming big enough”, Marmorat remarked, in her then job as a careers advisor. The type of jobs they talked about; “childcare worker, secretary, personal assistant, medical secretary…”, felt like a series of dull blows that gradually turned into a call to action. “No one ever wants to become a doctor or an architect”, she lamented at the time. She blamed French society, undermined by socio-cultural inequality. Marmorat decided to put all of her energy into “giving these girls confidence in themselves”, as she found these 14 to 22 year olds, “too often paralysed by fear.” Her aim was to see them “dare to go out into the world.”
Women of very different backgrounds
During the first intensive week of mentoring, the participants gain access to a “discussion space where they can talk about their dreams, what they have in common and the difficulties they are experiencing,” Athina Marmorat explained. Four programmes are set up, a dynamic starts to take hold within the group, and bonds start to form. Among the activities on offer, the “Rêv’Elles Café” is a slot dedicated to encouraging the girls to debate the kind of problems that are unique to women when it comes to “feeling empowered to take action,” while “Rêv’Elles-Moi ton entreprise” (Dream me your business) is a complete immersion experience of the workplace. But the uniquely distinguishing feature of Marmorat’s association is the skillful way in which it brings together women of all different backgrounds and social classes. As the founder explains, “There’s real diversity in terms of age and geographical background, all of these women have had a very different path in life.” Each candidate receives individual support from a mentor, or ‘role model’, as the association calls them, until her prejudices and fears give way to a more concrete understanding of the career that interests her. Samira Ibrahim, a journalist for French public national television channel France2 and Rêv’Elles ‘role model’, confirms that these young women effectively become immersed in a world that “they didn’t know before”, and that they experience “discovery after discovery.” The journalist brought her own mentee to work with her, introducing the young woman to both her editor and colleagues. In this setting, she was able to mix with professionals and realise that she had within herself the potential to fulfil her new ambitions.
“A turning point”
Four years after its creation, Rêv’Elles now counts more than 230 members and over 2,365 Facebook subscribers, and is continuing to gain ground. According to Athina Marmorat, more than half of the participants came to Rêv’Elles because it was recommended by a friend. According to data from the association’s website 97 percent of participants report being satisfied at the end of the programme, certain graduates have even gone onto top French universities, whilst others have found vocational or educational courses better aligned with their aspirations. 19-year-old Aude-Emeline from Noisy Le Sec, a Parisian suburb, falls into this group. She said that for her the experience has been a “key moment, a turning point”, and that through Rêv’Elles, she has “found her path”. Sawsane, an 11th grade student from Gagny, another Parisian suburb, signed up to the association aged 15, feeling disorientated. However, by the end of the programme, having visited the firm Dow Chemicals, she had chosen her vocation: that of chemical engineer. “I was unsure of my plans for the future, but now I know what I want to do.”
Athina Marmorat nevertheless stressed the impossibility, or complexity of capturing this experience in words. 16-year-old Mégane agreed, adding that she still felt emotional about having undergone this “necessary rite of passage” in life.
“It is time we focus on women.” These are the renowned words of Sanjit “Bunker” Roy, the founder of Barefoot College. Set up in 1972, this extraordinary college located in the village of Tilonia, 110km south-west of Jaipur, India, teaches rural women—many of them illiterate—how to fabricate solar panels, lights and photovoltaic circuits. With these new capabilities, accredited “Solar Mamas” return home to shed light on their communities.
Around the world, life is difficult for women, perhaps most so in the rural areas of developing countries like India, where harmful traditions run deep. In fact, 47 percent of girls surveyed in a 2014 Unicefreport said they were married by the age of 18. The Indian state of Rajasthan, home to Barefoot College, has the highest rate of child marriage in the nation. Upon entering womanhood, everyday household tasks become exhausting and time-consuming for these women, as a lack of electricity makes everything that bit more difficult. The World Bank estimates that one Indian household in every five still lacks access to electricity and figures run as high as one in every two for rural areas. Many households depend on kerosene oil for lamps or cooking, potentially exposing themselves to future respiratory or sight problems.
The peaceful grounds in Tilonia, spread over eight acres, run entirely on solar energy maintained by the Barefoot solar engineers. Over 15,000 women from 83 countries have received training in various skills here, but the “Solar Mamas” remain the centre’s most impactful graduates, providing light and power to over 1,200 villages and 500,000 people worldwide. Many of these women, despite having never set foot inside a classroom themselves or learning to read, now watch their children peacefully do their homework in the evening, or their neighbours shuffle from field to hut after a day spent tending to cattle with a solar lamp in hand.
The methods employed at Barefoot College work towards 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are a set of targets and indicators that UN member states should work towards in hope of eradicating poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring peace for all humans worldwide by 2030.
Any woman worldwide over 35 years of age, and from a remote, inaccessible area without electricity, can enrol for the solar engineering course, provided she has backing from her village. The “Solar Mamas” respective governments arrange their passports, visas and transport to Barefoot College, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs provides a fellowship that covers the cost of their stay in Tilonia. The training programme lasts six months. Two groups are taught simultaneously, each consisting of 20 Indian and 40 foreign women, hailing from Latin America, Asia, the Pacific Islands and Africa. Language barriers are no problem for the “Solar Mamas,” for though their spoken languages differ, their past life experiences and hopes for their communities’ future unite them. Practical lessons are taught using a colour coding system that doesn’t depend on the use of spoken language or written word.
“Women have a great potential to act as agents for sustainable change and poverty reduction because, unlike men, they connect emotionally with what they are doing,” said New Zealander Meagan Fallone, CEO of Barefoot College. She added that the solar energy engineering courses help women develop leadership skills, meaning that when they go back to their villages, they’re able to challenge with greater confidence the discriminatory gender stereotypes that once handicapped them.
JAIPUR 14/09/2017: African students during their six months training at Women Barefoot Solar Engineer Training Centre, Barefoot College, Tilonia nearly 110km from Jaipur, Rajasthan The Barefoot College connects rural communities to solar, water, education, professions and advocacy to help communities and individuals take control of their lives and the wellbeing of their communitie It has trained hundred’s of Indian rural women and also African students. Photo Sandeep Saxena
One of the best parts of the programme is the ripple effect. Women return home, motivated to train others in solar engineering. Melekuini Numela, 51, from Tuvalu said she would replicate the model by installing solar lanterns and panels in her village and sharing her newly acquired expertise with local women. Fallone also explains that “Solar Mamas” experience a substantial increase in their income following their time at Barefoot College, offering a further source of empowerment and confidence boost.
25-year-old Indian Santosh Devi has been able to break the caste barrier with her training as a solar engineer. Being a Dalit [communities illegally discriminated against by people of higher caste in India], she was previously isolated and not allowed to interact with the people belonging to so-called higher castes. “I am now a solar engineer who can install and repair lights and panels for the villagers. People of all castes come seeking my help. I had never imagined that this would be possible in my village,” she proudly said.
Fallone regretted that there was, at large, mistrust in the society regarding not-for-profit organisations, and that the philanthropic contributions they received were inadequate. She adds that regular funding would help sustain initiatives such as Barefoot College.
What’s sure is that with the “Solar Mamas,” life is now looking a whole lot brighter for rural communities in India and across the world. Barefoot College is a perfect example of just how strong and capable women are when provided with sufficient educational opportunities.
The harsh reality is that climate change, combined with strong-rooted traditions regarding gender roles, has resulted in life becoming much harder for rural women across western and central Africa, notably in Burkina Faso. According the World Bank, 40 percent of Burkinabe residents live below the poverty line and 80 percent of the nation’s employment is linked to subsistence farming. Burkinabe farmers, many of them women, battle with soil that; is low in nutrients, has a low water-holding capacity and is largely degraded. The country’s difficult farming conditions, compounded with drought, means that women’s everyday life has become much tougher. In rural villages women must walk further to fetch water and work harder in the field for less yield
On May 23 2017, the ‘We are the solution! Celebrate African family farming’ movement held an interactive workshop for rural women in Burkina Faso, with the aim of educating and training these ladies about agro-ecological practices. Training women in such farming techniques would help improve the quality of soil, and educate farming women on how to adapt to a changing climate—yielding better result in the long-term.
According to Sibiri Dao, the movement’s coordinator, agro-ecology is more than just the simple fusion ecological methods with traditional farming practices—it represents the only liable option for the continuation of agriculture as a whole and the survival of humanity. What’s more, women are the key to the movement’s success.
‘We are the solution! Celebrate African family farming’ was first established as a campaign in 2006 in Burkina Faso, but it only really started on its current path in September 2011. This was when the movement formed connections with different organisations representing rural women across five countries: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Mali and Senegal.
Now, twelve different associations across these African nations have taken on the campaign and the FAO estimates that the movement has resulted in the training of more than 159,000 people. Sibiri Dao, who is coordinator of the movement and on the board of directors for the National Federation of Farming Organisations (FENOP), explained that despite having evolved slowly she and her team have set their standards high.
As well as educating and training on traditional agricultural methods, ‘We are the solution! Celebrate African family farming’ works in other domains; helping to set up local networks and empowering rural women to take key roles in promoting and changing the mentality towards natural products. In doing so, the movement promotes agro-ecological farming and women’s rights. Dao is convinced that if women step up the the plate, they could persuade and rally men into accepting agro-ecological practices, especially in farming families.
This regional or even national advocacy aims to provide women with the power to persuade authorities to acknowledging and accept the need for women in agro-ecology, which in turn could make food sovereignty a reality for farmers. The workshop’s organisers explain that the movement’s advisory committee meets every year to examine the three-year plans previously decided on.
One of the main aims of the workshop on May 23 2017 was to increase visibility. This included promoting the ‘We are the solution!’ campaign and the actions of rural women in Burkina Faso, engaging large-scale support for rural women, calling out public and political opinion on the prioritisation of food sovereignty in development policy, and sharing experiences of promoting agro-ecology. “At the end of the workshop, the participants have to clearly determine their grassroots prospects, and then we conduct an evaluation at the next meeting,” said Sibiri Dao.
Victorine Kam—a member of the Munyu Association of Banfora and an advocate for agro-ecological production methods—shared her experiences. Despite some difficulties encountered in agro-ecological production, she encouraged her colleagues to practice this style of agriculture, advocating for its natural advantages. “The vendors testify that chemically produced foods rot faster than agro-ecological produce. Consumers also remark that ecological products are softer than those that have been chemically treated,” said Kam. She also explained that to make organic manure, you only need to combine the stalks of rice plants, animal waste and ash. The material is then packed down and compressed for between 15 days and month, at which point it’s useable.
Movements such as ‘We are the solution! Celebrate African family farming’ highlight that with the access to educational opportunities and training programmes, women across Western and Central Africa have the ability to provide greater food security for future communities.
In Lagos, a social enterprise trains struggling women in slums to become financially independent micro entrepreneurs.
By Praise Olowe for The Nation
The slums of Lagos are dotted with single-parent households, most of them headed by strong-willed women facing widespread discrimination as a result of divorce, separation or widowhood.
Patriarchal societies and deep-rooted traditions have made life here pretty hard for women going solo. According to UN Women, African widows are among the most vulnerable and discriminated-against women in the world. In Nigeria, widowhood isn’t just a question of heartache but often of losing property, land and any money saved prior to a husband’s death.
What’s more, in the developing world women are 20 percent less likely than men to have a bank account, being frequently turned away by financial institutes simply because of their gender—and the rate is much higher for widows and single mothers. Getting credit is also extremely difficult. The reality is that for many of these single-parent households, mothers are obliged to turn to their children to help prop up the weekly household income, with much of the responsibility falling on daughters—perpetuating gender-specific poverty.
This was the case for Nkem Okocha, whose widowed mother struggled to support her four children, “I had to hawk goods in the Lagos markets to make money to pay for my exam fees,” said Okocha. Still, she was luckier than most; when someone gave her mother money out of pity, she didn’t spend it right away; instead, she invested it, buying vegetables she later sold at a profit. With that small gift of money, she had effectively launched a micro business, using profits to support her family and re-investing money into more goods to sell. It was a valuable lesson for Okocha, who sold shampoo at the market to help her mother; later, she managed to get her university degree and a job at a bank.
In 2013, she founded Mamamoni, a social enterprise that offers low-income women training in finance and vocational skills, and provides them with access to microcredit loans through mobile banking. “Our aim is to provide capital for those who cannot access it through commercial banks,” said Okocha. “Mamamoni was started out of empathy, I wanted to help women in my community. I saw them idle and their children staying at home because there was no money to send them to school.”
Okocha, who also has experience in web and mobile development, took a page from the Kiva playbook, setting up a web platform to fund loans. “Socially conscious individuals can invest in low-income women by making loans to fund their businesses,” Okocha explained. They are invited to lend any amount from 10,000 to 100,000 Nigerian Naira (US $28 to $280) and may read over business plans prior to choosing the specific businesswoman they would like to invest in.
Women who enroll in the programme learn vocations such as how to make soap, insecticides, pastries or handicrafts. They are provided with mobile phones at the beginning of their training, and funds are transferred from Mamamoni’s account to theirs. Mobile money is very common throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, and women can easily use their mobile phones to buy materials to set up their micro businesses. This process, Okocha explained, helps to bypass the discrimination many of these women have experienced at formal banking institutions.
Staffed with just five women, Mamamoni’s impact has been impressive. To date, it has trained more than 4,000 Nigerian women and provided some 100 micro loans. The loan payback rate is nearly 100 percent, and more than 90 percent of those who have received training have started a business. And while selling soap or crafts may seem like petty trades to some, these simple businesses have provided a source of income that has enabled more than 7,800 children to go to school.
One proud Mamamoni beneficiary is Beatrice Alihola, who is now able to send her young children to school thanks to the small business she set up in her community with funds and guidance from Okocha and her team. Prior to taking part in the programme, Alihola sold produce under a tarpaulin canopy at one of the local markets; during the rainy season, she frequently had little or no income. Now, with the assistance of microcredit, she is able to rent a small shop where she sells insecticide and kerosene, a much more stable source of income.
An alumna of the 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme, Okocha is eager to reach out to many more women like Alihola. She recently began working with teenagers, the idea being to empower the upcoming generation of Nigerian women as well. Soon, she plans to introduce the Mamamoni concept to 20 more Nigerian states, providing training and microcredit access to an additional 10,000 women—and breaking the cycle of poverty.
The wife of Anambra State governor, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano, has urged fellow women to make positive impact in their communities.
She spoke at a skill acquisition and economic empowerment programme organised by the Association of Anambra State Women Association in Lagos (ASWAL) at the National Stadium in Lagos.
According to her, women need to learn the skill of foresight.
Mrs Obiano said: “Foresight helps us to pull the future into the present and transition from a position of reactive disruption to a proactive transformation.”
The governor’s wife, who was the chief guest of honour at the programme, tagged: 21th Century Woman: the Critical Success Factors, said such impact was evident in the giant strides the Anambra State government had recorded.
She said the government’s successes included the exportation of farm produce rehabilitation of roads and other major infrastructure, a reduction in traffic congestion and prompt payment of salaries.
Mrs Obiano said she had been helping indigent residents since 1991 through her nongovernmental organisation (NGO), Caring Family Enhancement Initiative (CAFÉ) and other gestures.
Apart from the usual hazards of the profession which all journalists face, Faith Yahaya highlights peculiar challenges, especially sexual harassment, which female journalists cope with on the job.
Until she got married and later pregnant, Josephine Ella-Ejeh, formerly a staff of an Abuja-based newspaper had no problem with her bosses at work. No one doubted her capacity to discharge her editorial assignments.
Even though she remained as productive as she was despite her new condition, she suddenly got reassigned without being told why.
“They just woke up one day and asked me to leave my beat for someone else and that I would now be assisting an editor on the weekend desk, ” Ella-Ejeh recalled in an Interview with The Nation.
“This new ‘responsibility’ was without official letter or anything. It was not clearly stated and when I tried to ask questions, I was told to either proceed on the new assignment or resign. From the look of things, I felt they were just looking for a soft way to let me go without the fingers pointing directly at them.”
She eventually had to resign because according to her, “I felt I was being witch-hunted for getting married and pregnant.”
Apart from the circumstance that led to her resignation, the beats she covered, which included the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other security-related beats exposed her to sexual harassment. Some of her sources withheld information and were unwilling to give it to her until she gives them her body in return.
Although her case may not be typical, Ella-Ejeh’s plight represents some of the major challenges female journalists have to contend with in the newsrooms and on the beats the cover.
Ifeyinwa Omowale, President, National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ)
Interviews with Female journalists, including young and experienced professionals revealed that more than the usual hazards every journalists face at work, there are some gender related ones, including sexual harassment, lack of prospects like their male colleagues and unfriendly maternity conditions of service.
Some of those interviewed for this story declined to be named to avoid being targeted by senior male journalists who may not like their views on the issue.
A female journalist, who didn’t want to be mentioned for fear of being sacked in her present place of work, was also forced to resign her job in her former work place when she got demoted for daring to ask for equal pay and conditions of service with male counterparts who were earning more than her.
“I was demoted to a Senior Correspondent from the rank of Assistant Editor. I had to leave because my male counterparts, who were supposed to be my junior at the workplace, were getting higher pay.
“The environment was just not conducive for me as a woman. When I was pregnant; the management probed and tried to get me to disclose my Expected Date of Delivery (EDD) which was my private information before giving me maternity leave. I just had to leave,” she explained.
Even when she joined another media outfit and she was offered the position of a Deputy Editor, her male boss didn’t want her; he wanted a man because he had the mindset that women are incompetent for the job.
“When ministerial screening was on, as a deputy editor, he made me monitor the televised screening. He was not giving me the job I was supposed to do. Even as a reporter I didn’t monitor news, but I was made to do that and I felt he thought I was incompetent because I am a woman.”
For Juliana Francis who started her journalism career in 2001 and is presently a Crime Editor with New Telegraph Newspapers, she had more than her own ‘fair’ share of sexual harassments and stigmatization that almost forced her to quit the beat she was covering.
“I was single when I started working, so I had a lot of sexual challenges and harassment and I could not take it because I am a rape survivor,” Francis who is now married with kids recalled.
“I met sexual harassment in journalism. Crime beat is actually a beat where you would find very few women. Then, we were not more than four on the beat and everybody was making advances. You are being sexually harassed in the office, you are being sexually harassed on the beat and an average uniform man is amorous.
Juliana Francis
“Some of them want to give you information and they want you to pay with sex. In the office, you get to hear made-up stories that you have slept with virtually everybody. In fact, the story I got was that I had slept with nine men. I don’t understand why it should be like that.
“Sometimes, the senior people you are looking up to would take you out and the next thing is to take you to hotel. It is on record that I was the only junior reporter that went to a very senior person and I told the person to stop it because I was single and he was spoiling my chances of getting married and he was shocked.
“On the police beat they would try to touch you inappropriately but I never allowed it. At a point, people even said I was sleeping with a former Inspector-General of Police. But we were not and in all honesty the man never talked to me in that way to show that he was interested in me. That gave me problem and at a point I thought of quitting the beat.
“I made move towards it but my boss said I was going to meet it on every beat because I am a woman journalist which means he knew what I was talking about because he has been there for decades before I came in. For him to say that, I decided to toughen up and I started covering the beat.”
Based on her experience, Bunmi Yekini of Radio One, Lagos also said female journalists are also stigmatized by male colleagues and the public as loose women.
“They feel it is a male dominated area and when they see women come into it, the first thing that comes to their mind is that they are prostitutes, especially if you are already at the top. They feel you have sold your body in exchange for the promotion or position. They forget that female journalists have brains too just like the male counterparts.”
Beyond sexual harassment, Francis noted that marriage is also a challenge for female journalists.
Most female journalists according to her are single mothers not because they don’t want to keep their marriage, but lack of understanding of what journalism entails by the men they married.
“You are likely to find out that some female journalists who have successful marriages are married to male journalists because they understand better. Sometimes, my husband asks why men call me more but that is what the job entails. There are more men in the newsroom and even on crime beat, your sources and the people we meet most are men.”
Another female journalist in the print media who claimed to have passion for the job said the profession has denied her some things she would have loved to do as lady and caused her emotional trauma.
“I can’t count the number of outings and dates I have cancelled because of impromptu assignments. Journalism is the kind of job that you wake up sometimes and you cannot ascertain where you would be or what you would do because the job itself is unpredictable. I don’t attend church services the way I want to, no thanks to this job.
“The most painful challenge I have faced as a woman journalist is menstrual pain. Most media managers are men and they don’t understand what it means to be in such pain. All they are bothered or concerned about is the job.
Another thing that I have observed in the media is the fact that most women don’t get to the top, this makes a female journalist to lose her morale because she thinks that at the end of the day, she is not so likely to be given the top position.”
A female journalist in the broadcast media who covers the National Assembly complained that her organisation sent her there as a way to bring in advert which would generate revenue for the company.
“They feel I should use what I have to get what they want,” she said.
Another female journalist who struggled to open up to The Nation said she was tired of the job but cannot leave because of the alarming rate of unemployment and little job opportunities.
“I am really tired of this job because the rate of sexual harassment in the newsroom is too much. You would be shocked to find out that my boss has sexually harassed most of the females who were and who are in the organization as IT student, Corp members and even the female staff.
This is what I live with daily but I cannot leave because leaving would mean me joining thousands in the labour market seeking employment. It is painful that he does whatever he likes and gets away with it because he is the boss. ”
Lara Owoeye-Wise
Lara Owoeye-Wise of Africa Independent Television (AIT) who has been on the job for over 25 years said her major challenge was the work environment. “I had to grapple with the challenges of what I call the tools of trade because it is already a daunting challenge being a female and married with children and combining all that with professional job. It is more daunting that the things that should make your job easier for you, you don’t have them and that becomes double ‘wahala’.”
She said she had always clamored for crèche in media houses because according to her “there is no way a nursing-mother would give her best knowing that her child is miles away and at the mercy of the house help.”
While acknowledging the special challenges women have to cope with on the job, Moji Makanjuola, a celebrated TV journalist and President of Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mrs. Funke Egbemode offered suggestions on how overcome them and excel.
“Women need to assert themselves and those coming must know that it is hard work. It has to do with your brains and tenacity. It is not administrative or filing job. As a journalist you have to be versatile. Read and learn. Seek your knowledge. You must broaden your horizon and you must report from a point of knowledge because that way, you would make your own name” Makanjola said.
Egbemode who is Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, New Telegraph said female journalists are special and must marry special partners, noting that their divine assignment hinders them from carrying out their professional role as expected.
Egbemode
“A woman is a woman and she has duties that are assigned to her by God. So, she takes time off to make babies, she takes time off to nurse her marriage and ensure that things don’t go wrong. Because a woman has to do all of that, she doesn’t have the luxury of time to pay quality attention as men pay to their career,” she said.
Although other female professional may face similar situation on their jobs, Egbemode noted that journalism is a bit more tasking mentally and physically.
“We have no working hours; a woman has to contend with that to rise in the newsroom. There is also the issue of the kind-of partner she ends up with. I always say that a journalist is a special kind of woman, she is a special kind of professional, and she needs a special kind of man.
“Ordinary men can’t marry journalist. So in choosing a partner, you must acknowledge yourself as a woman that you are special because your needs are special, so you must find a man who can help you grow, who can nurture you and who is very comfortable in his own skin. He does not have complex issues, and does not think that you taking a photograph with a minister mean that you know the minister.
“You need a man who would know that whatever you become, whoever you are and whatever you do, you are part of him and that your achievements are his achievements, your failure and strength are his. If you want to rise to be Editor in Chief, you cannot marry a man a man who sees you as a business woman who should open a chain of restaurants because that is not what you want to be but that is what he wants you to be and there will be friction, tension and stress, ” Egbemode advised.
On sexual harassment, Egbemode said it is not peculiar to journalism and urged female journalists to take necessary precautions in the newsroom and on the beat. “You do not have to do what you don’t want to do and an Editor will use a good story. If you are faced with sexual harassment, you should use your feminism and smartness to your advantage.”
While the newsroom and the job is not generally gender sensitive, Egbemode’s counsel is that female journalists should be ready to prove to that they are indeed capable ‘gentlemen’ like their male colleagues.
“The job just has to be done. So you can’t come into the newsroom, wanting to feel like a woman and expecting that certain things would be handed to you as a woman. You just need to prove yourself that you can hold down the job. You need to plan. The job is tough but if you stay focused you will make it.
“That is why a lot of women can’t continue and you can’t blame them because it is very difficult. For women who are just coming into the newsroom, you should just know that the men are not going to hand you anything on a platter of gold. They are not going to give you special concession. In fact, when you ask for concessions, they begin to look down on you. You need to find a way to get your own job done.”
To curb the high rate of sexual harassments in the newsrooms, participants in the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship organized by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism called for anti- sexual harassments policies in media houses.
The National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) was urged to take up the challenge of demanding for this policy and others that will make the media environment more conducive for female journalists.
“We need to speak out because the more we keep quiet, the more the harassment will thrive,” a participant stated.
The Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering (NASME), said it has trained 25 women in a three-month intensive course on modern fish farming in Makurdi, Benue State.
Deputy Director, Public Relations, 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, Col. Sagir Musa, said in a statement in Enugu that the GOC, 82 Div. Maj.-Gen. Adamu Abubakar, had issued certificates to the 25 graduates of the course conducted by the NSAME for the benefit of selected interested women of the NASME Cantonment, Makurdi.
He said the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, had initiated and successfully ensured the actualisation of the establishment of Barracks Investment Initiative Programme (BIIP) in all army barracks and cantonments across the nation.
Musa said in line with the COAS directive, the Commandant NASME, Maj.- Gen. A.O. Shodanke, ensured the establishment of various agro-allied businesses, skills acquisition training programmes and co-operative societies for NASME community.
