Leading women journalists in Africa called for solidarity among journalists, men and women, to effect a durable change and achieve greater fairness in the profession. The call was made during the second day of the All African Conference on Gender and Equality in Media taking place in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.
The main challenges which were debated include sexual harassment, the lack of transparency in news room and the
pay gap among men and women journalists. Participants urged women journalist to
improve communication by sharing experience and best practices to drive the
change which is likely to do away with the inequality.
"The fight for gender equality
requires solidarity among men and women journalists and the role of unions is
essential to achieving this goal," said Mounia Belafia, Vice President of the IFJ Gender
Council. " The best way of achieving progress is by sharing the best practices
from our different societies."
The conference was urged to initiate
plans for immediate redress to the current situation as change in media takes a
long time , in line with other social changes.
"There is a need to identify
mechanisms through which change can happen and stand the test of time," said
Khady Cisse, General Secretary of West African Journalists' Association (WAJA)
and member of the IFJ Executive Committee.
The FAJ Council submitted a draft
Gender Policy and Action Plan to the conference for discussion and adoption on the last day of the conference.
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FAJ represents over 50.000
journalists in 38 countries in Africa