The Sierra Leone Association of Women in Journalism (SLAWIJ) joined the commemoration of this year’s World Press Freedom Day through a virtual conference organized by West African Women Journalists. The theme for today was “Information as a Public Good” and the day is commemorated to remind governments of their commitment to press freedom.
The conference discussed “Status of Women Journalists in West African Media, Challenges and Way Forward. Panelists included the President of Female Journalists in Liberia (FeJAL) Siatta Scott-Johnson, Rafat Idris Salami- Nigeria, Sarjo Camara- Gambia and our Executive President Millicent Kargbo.
The moderator Ndey Sosseh in her introduction said, women journalists should use the day to stand in solidarity with colleagues who have fallen in the line of duty, those in detention and those exiled in observance of the day.
As highlight from the discussion, the Nigerian media has more women occupying leadership positions within media institutions and at national level, this is different for Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone were the number of female journalists in leadership positions is still very low.
Meanwhile, Gambia and Nigerian have more women journalists with formal education and capacity. On the other hand, Sierra Leone and Liberia still have some work to do to increase the number of female journalists in higher education and also to organise more capacity building trainings for women journalists.
Low pay, sexual harassment, discrimination and male dominance in the media cuts across all four countries. These and many more stood out as major barriers to bridging the gap between women journalists and their male counterparts.
Some of the key recommendations from the conference were; regular virtual meetings to elaborate on their common issues and the way forward, mentoring network and to create more visibility for women journalists.