A civil society organisation, Media and Gender Enlightenment Initiative (MEGEIN), on Tuesday said women were under reported in the media in Nigeria, urging media professionals to brace up.
The MEGEIN Project Director, Dr. Nkem Ukozor, made the assertion in Owerri at an interaction forum with journalists.
Ukozor, the immediate past Head of Department of Mass Communication, Imo State University (IMSU), urged the media to report women more effectively like their male counterparts.
She said that women, who occupied sensitive positions were not often seen as news sources by the media, making them feel to inferior among their male counterparts.
The project director said the development had created serious gap between the male and female counterparts, adding that societal factor had also played a major role in the ugly trend.
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She said that 204 women had been trained on media literacy in Nigeria in a bid to reawakening consciousness and brace up to the challenges.
“We are embarking on this advocacy visit to solicit media support on the marginalisation women are facing.
“We want the media to make women news sources where necessary and for the society to always have regard to women’s contributions,” the project director said.
Ukozor decried a situation where women were not carried along in the society, urging them to get themselves together and brace up to the challenges.
Mr. Honour Sirawoo, the National Chairman, Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), urged women to show more capacity in all aspects of human endeavour to be seen as news sources.
Sirawoo regretted that some women occupying sensitive positions were not press friendly, saying that such people could hardly get media relevance. (NAN)
