Years in the past, as a younger feminine journalist in Accra, I skilled an injustice that left me reeling. I’d been working late within the enhancing suite, exhausted however decided to finish my reportage. Yet, when my flip lastly got here, a male colleague’s work was prioritized by the editor, just because they have been mates. Frustrated and unwilling to stay silent, I spoke up. What ensued was a heated argument—phrases flew, tensions soared. But in the long run, solely I used to be summoned to the workplace and reprimanded, whereas my male colleagues walked away unscathed.
“How is it,” I puzzled, “that women are always told to remain calm, while men can act freely without consequence?” The bitter irony is that our newsrooms, which struggle for public justice, typically fail to uphold equity inside their very own partitions. I knew then that my story was not distinctive; numerous girls in Ghana’s media trade expertise the identical bias, silenced by the unstated guidelines that govern so lots of our workplaces.
Unequal pay, unheard voices
The inequalities didn’t cease at favoritism. As I superior in my profession, I spotted there was a silent however huge wage hole between women and men in Ghana’s media trade. How can we, who champion the causes of others, overlook the inequalities in our personal organizations? Recent analysis by Professor Abena Animwaa Yeboah-Banin from the University of Ghana, Department of Communication Studies, unveiled a staggering reality. In her research, “Empowering Women in Ghanaian Media: Progress, Trends, Challenges, and Prospects,” 43% of girls interviewed have been uncertain about equal pay within the trade, whereas solely 42% believed it existed. This leaves a good portion who see, however can not problem, the discrepancies.
“Compared to their male colleagues, women in media are paid less,” Professor Yeboah-Banin defined. “They have less access to promotions or opportunities. If you start your career today alongside a male colleague, chances are that in 10 years, he will be in a position to support you.” Her phrases remained foremost in my ideas. In a occupation the place connections can weigh as closely as benefit, girls typically discover themselves at an obstacle, their potential capped by invisible ceilings.
“When a woman rises, she lifts her family, her community, and her country. But when she is pushed down, the whole society feels the weight,” says an previous Ghanaian proverb. In this context, it’s not simply particular person careers at stake—it’s the collective way forward for Ghana’s media panorama and the voices we’d by no means hear if girls proceed to be held again.
Advancing SDG 5: Gender equality
The silent struggling of girls in Ghana’s media has now reached the ears of advocates and activists. In response to those challenges, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) just lately hosted a high-level convention in Accra to handle gender inequality within the trade as a part of the worldwide dedication to Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5): reaching gender equality. Among the voices calling for change was Dr. Charity Binka, Executive Director of WOMEC, an NGO selling girls’s empowerment in media.
Dr. Binka shared an important suggestion for media organizations, urging them to implement and uphold insurance policies in opposition to sexual harassment and gender-based violence. “We came up with the recommendation that all media organizations should have clear policies addressing sexual harassment and gender-based violence,” she mentioned. “We should develop and implement inclusive anti-harassment policies, not just hold follow-up meetings but actually ensure that they are enforced, because sometimes policies are drafted and then left on the books. Or, maybe, no single person is responsible for ensuring compliance. Once you enter that space, you must know what you should do and what constitutes sexual harassment.”
As Dr. Binka spoke, I assumed, what number of girls have left their desires behind as a result of they have been silenced, humiliated, or held again by an unfair system? What would possibly their contributions have added to the tales we inform? We can not afford to disregard these questions.
Equal voices, equal alternatives
The name for gender equality in Ghana’s media will not be new, however the stakes have by no means been greater. The media shapes minds, influences insurance policies, and displays society. So, what does it say about us if we tolerate, and even perpetuate, injustice inside our personal ranks?
In pursuit of SDG 5, Ghana’s media trade faces an ethical reckoning. True equality can not exist if girls’s contributions are undervalued or ignored. An previous Ghanaian saying goes, “The stick that beats the cat also beats the dog,” which means injustice, if tolerated in a single place, will unfold. The street to equality isn’t solely about setting insurance policies on paper; it’s about respiratory life into these phrases, guaranteeing they’re practiced and upheld, day in and day trip.
How will we transfer ahead? It begins with constructing inclusive areas the place each journalist, no matter gender, can thrive and contribute. The tales we inform form the long run we construct. For a simply and balanced society, allow us to begin by championing gender equality, not solely within the tales we report however inside the partitions of the newsrooms we work in. As we transfer ahead, Ghana’s media should lead by instance, taking SDG 5 not simply as a really perfect however as an achievable purpose—one story, one coverage, and one act of braveness at a time.
E-mail: [email protected]
