Journalists, Photographers Schooled On Gender, Safety

By Kingsley E. Hope

Kumasi — A two-day training on gender, safety and equality has been organised, mainly for female journalists and photographers here in Kumasi.

It was aimed at emboldening female journalists to accept differences and deal with discrimination as well as combat sexual harassment at the workplaces among others.

The workshop was organised by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in collaboration with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), with sponsorship by the Norwegian Journalists Union.

At the opening of the training, the Vice President of the GJA Linda Asante-Agyei entreated female journalists to always prepare for challenges and be able to combat and manage their roles as journalists and mothers.

She observed that many women had been trained as journalists but few are practicing due to harassment and discrimination associated with the profession.

Touching on the fact that female journalists should be more determined to overcome the male chauvinism in the newsroom, Mrs Asante-Agyei asked them to take up precautionary measures while on the field and ensure that they were safe to tell the story adding that "the story is worth our lives, but we must live to tell our own stories".

She noted that the journalism profession appears to be male dominated, and urged the participants to prepare for challenges that might confront them in the line of duty to be able to manage themselves to overcome every challenge.

"I urge you to work hard with commitment and dedication to confront the difficulties associated with the profession," she intoned.

On security, she told the participants that their safety was important and that it was their sole responsibilities to protect their valuable lives in the course of their duties, regardless of the protection offered to them by their employers and the security agencies.

She pointed out that GJA has advanced plans to improving safety measures for journalists, particularly female journalists who keep on facing life threatening circumstances on daily basis in the discharge of their duties.

The facilitators, Mrs Alice Tettey, Ms Georgina Ama Ankumah, Central Regional chairperson and Ashanti Regional Secretary of GJA respectively, expressed concern about reports of some harassments of female journalists at the workplace, saying, most women go through hard times to secure jobs and if bosses would harass them to the extent that they would quit their jobs, "then it is a serious issue that should be looked into to ensure they discharge their duties without fear of being harassed".

They urged the participants not to cheapen themselves for men to see them as "sex toys" to take them for a ride.

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