Gender Research & Advocacy Programme ( G-RAP) Young Professionals Gender Forum

Gender Research & Advocacy Programme (G-RAP) Young Professionals Gender Forum Topic: Promoting Women’s Participation and Bridging Gender Gaps in the Professions and Public Life-Achievements ,Relevance and Prospects: A Perspective on Media and Advocacy. By Marian Angela Kyei Airport West Hotel,Accra November 17-18, 2010

Outline of Presentation:Promoting Women’s Participation and Bridging Gender Gaps in the Professions and Public Life-Achievements ,Relevance and Prospects: A Perspective on Media and Advocacy • Introduction: Gender themes over the decades • Trouble shooting: gender issues and their relevance in Ghana • Status quo: an environmental scan of gender parity statistics, Women rights & Gender issues in Media / Advocacy • Changing trends of gender relations/mainstreaming in the media industry; • Assessment of women in the media industry especially in terms of leadership roles & participation in decision making. • Inhibitive and push factors that militate against or support gender progression, • Change and Change factors: The causes or external catalysts that reversed the gender dynamics, if any • Achievements: Whether gender mainstreaming efforts have made any impacts in the media industry. • Gaining traction- understanding the cultural dimensions, traditional, religious, ethnic factors & the national psyche that makes a significant impact or otherwise in terms of traction of gender mainstreaming issues • The Way forward for Women’s Participation and Bridging Gender Gaps (general)

Troubleshooting gender issues in the Ghanaian media Have there been specific gender related efforts in your area of enterprise? Have you benefited from gender mainstreaming ? How & What impact has it made in your work? Should gender issues still be considered a major developmental issue in Ghana? Why? What is the ultimate result being sought by gender mainstreaming activities in Ghana in general and in our particular area of work? Where did we start from , where are we and where do we want to be? Do we have adequate statistics (Data) to know where we were, where we are and what is left to do?

Troubleshooting gender issues in the Ghanaian media • Are the issues of Affirmative action for women in the 1990s as relevant as it is today? • Which roadmap are we using as benchmarks? What are the significant differences in the scale of empowerment? ie ( Progression from Discrimination and exclusion to ??? What is the ultimate? ) Is this achievable in all sectors/professional fields? • Are the achievement indices based on a general outlook or based on disaggregated levels eg women in formal vrs informal sector, rural &peri-urban vrs urban, productive working groups (18-30’s) vrs 40-60 year groups, less • How well has Ghana (women) addressed the concerns of the African gender indices at all levels of empowerment or inclusion?

Introduction-The road to female emancipation Some Gender themes over the 3 decades Gender Equality in sharing power (bridging gender gaps) Eliminating discrimination against women Participating in decision-making at different levels Programmes Gender & Affirmative Action for Women Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against women (CEDAW), Beijing Declaration & the Platform for Action (1995) Millennium Summit(2000) World Summit(2005) Globally and nationally, these developments have led to activities and initiatives from awareness creation/ sensitization to legislative and policy reform with varying degrees of success.

African Gender Development Index by the Economic Commission of Africa • Tool to assess gender gaps in Africa and measure progress. • Understanding concepts of gender equality • Women empowerment • Identification of the range of women’s concerns eg • Religious • Legal • Political • Social-Cultural • Physical • Economic

Affirmative action concept & Gender considerations in Ghana • Affirmative Action : refers to policies that take factors INCLUDING "race, color, religion,gender,sex or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group,... • 1992 Ghanaian Constitution: Article 17 on Equality & freedom from discrimination • 17(1) All persons shall be equal before the law • 17(2) A person shall not be discriminated against on grounds of gender, race, colour ethnic origin, religion, creed or economic status…” • 17(3) …’discriminate means to give different treatment to different persons attributable only or mainly to their respective descriptions by race, place of origin, political opinions, colour, gender…whereby persons of one description are subjected to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of another description are not made subject or are granted privileges or advantages which are not granted to persons of another description.

Constitutional provisions on –Women’s rights (Article 27 1-3) • Note : Constitution Art 1.the constitution shall be the supreme law of the land and any other provision found to be inconsistent with it shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void. • Special care for mothers during a reasonable period before and after childbirth, to be paid during these periods • Provide facilities for pre-school children to enable women as primary caregivers to realize their full potential • 27(3) women shall be guaranteed equal rights to training and promotion without any impediments from any person

Gender parity indices/statistics Female adult literacy rate in Ghana 1970 =16.6% now estimated at 65.9% Literacy rate of young literate female to males (15-24 years) estimated at 95.7% Gender parity index of young literate female to males primary level 97 Secondary level 87

The media & advocacy landscape More than one hundred and sixty six (166) radio stations More than forty (40) general newspapers and magazines registered with the National Media Commission, the media has been effective in setting the national agenda and most Ghanaians have their say and perception of national affairs through the media Popular areas of advocacy by the media/Advocacy -Women health issues - Brutalities & human rights abuses-Domestic violence -Children and child care Focus on women in informal sector and less privileged

Media Advocacy Groups: (Women in Broadcasting (WIB) • WIB (1995) as a media advocacy group concerned with gender imbalances in the mass media. Its members are employed at public and private radio and TV stations in Ghana. • The organization’s aims are as follows: • • To change the negative representations and images of women on television, • • To increase women and children’s participation in national and local debate on radio and television. • To achieve these objectives WIB members use their positions as programme producers to give an account of issues of women and children. Apart from this advocacy function WIB organizes • training programmes for women and children in order to strengthen the role of women in • Ghanaian media and to remove stereotypes in the radio and TV programmes • Media advocacy-Womec(Women Media and Change) ICT training for 15 female journalists to demystify complexities associated with ICT tools and to use it more effectively in their work • Laudable but often linked to personalities rather than an effective and representative media advocacy group for the generality of the targeted group

What are the gender issues in the media industry /advocacy • How are the twin issues of gender empowerment and equality or gender parity fully accommodated by the media industry? • Practicing true equality between men and women in decision making • Low leadership positions/ roles of women in media hierarchy and general participation issues and its impact on women’s contribution to change and development in the workplace • Is there a gender wage gap in the media industry???

Media organizations & women leadership issues NMC- leadership since 1992 Constitution –no woman chairperson inspite of representation on the commission GJA – established since 1949- women leadership very recent (2) School of Communication studies- Audrey Gadzekpo Ghana Institute of Journalism- Former board headed by Mrs Ademola Film Institute – NAFTI State Owned Media Boards –GBC. Times , GNA,Graphic PRINPAG SWAG Private media- women in top positions tied to ownership structure- ADA community radio, Daily Guide, Meridien FM.Tema. Magazines (virtually defunct obasima-kate abbam, Awo-audrey, 2nd image- nikki boa amponsem) Media advocacy networks –WOMEC,WIB , Women in health, etc Prominent women in the media-broadcasting (visibility) vrs print

Changing trends of gender relations/mainstreaming in the media industry-observations • In the early days of affirmative action gender desks were created in most media houses (now mainly defunct). • Pages /features dedicated to gender sensitization and gender advocacy in the print media and airwaves. This is still in existence – • High recruitment of women into media houses (no conscious policies in place though) • Women promoted to Head Desks / News editors /Production • Very slow shift from ‘soft issue areas’ to ‘male dominated’ sections such as politics, crime coverage, sports

Changing trends of gender relations/mainstreaming in the media industry-observations • Women as presidents of the GJA, (GJA est.1949 .2 women prez only in the last decade) • Heads of media training institutions • Representation on NMC • Representation on boards of state-owned media institutions • Women as editors, station managers, owners of media institutions few but positive. • Media Advocacy for external gender considerations are well covered while advocacy for women in media directly has been relegated.

Positive points-Achievements in the media industry • The profession comes first before your sex so gender equality is well entrenched • Men and women entitled to equal pay for equal work generally • Generally treated as equals with regards to professional competence • No “conventional” or organizational barriers placed in the way of women to compete in specific areas of the industry • High levels of participation of women in most areas of the media industry in terms of journalism practice and core media aspects • Organizational demographics , rank and work experience often the basis for promotions across sexes • In advocacy –capacity ,commitment and interest in the area are the determining factors than the sex of the person • Recognition of the value and representation , equality of women as key actors in news gathering, presenting and post production in some cases eg show editors/producers etc.

How are the twin issues of gender empowerment and equality of media women fully accommodated by the media industry • Generally positive, however sublime and ‘unwritten’ conventions place women in ‘deputy positions’. • Women in top level positions often linked to other professional backgrounds eg- legal, finance, HR rather than professional women journalists in top ranking ‘journalism related jobs • Male dominated environment is the status quo reinforced by the fact that most heads or line managers are or should be male to ensure authority is maintained. • Unconscious effects of our acculturation and socialization processes –Women trained to be subservient (take back seat roles), chase for anchor jobs rather than investigative journalism etc • Over expectations of the empathetic roles of women in the workplace hence those who are assertive, firm and principled get names such as ‘bitch’ ‘ice queen’ etc • Female reproductive and domestic responsibilities get in the way of their competitiveness in seeking leadership roles where both merit and experience are required.

Inhibitors to women in the media workplace environment low participation in negotiations that limits the visibility, negotiation skills and influence at the workplace Inability to take up post training academic courses at early stages places men in a more advantageous position than their female counterparts Fears of accusation of sexual impropriety, sexual harassment limit a majority of women from seeking higher positions Women accepting cultural stereotypes and reinforcing them eg- going for treasurer positions instead of higher more competitive roles especially elected positions Lack of assertive women and those who are assertive are often ridiculed and judged harshly should they top it with challenges in their homes.

Inhibitions: • Weak networking abilities • Women to women relations in the workroom- differences in orientations and expectations. Female subordinates tend to exploit the empathy card or resist women heads more strongly than their male counterparts • Women take backseat roles unconsciously- low volunteerism for decision making activities. • Perception of women to ‘stay within’ proscribed educational levels in order not to be the boss at home (not to be seen as more intelligent than your partner and wreck your home. Value labels attached to societal considerations matter.

General Socio-cultural inhibitors • Males/females pick proscribed gender ideologies through their upbringing and these permeate the work environment unconsciously-turnfemale colleagues into secretaries or other non related activities etc • Gender orientations are thus tied to the cultural norms prevalent in the communities where the individuals grew up and they in turn seek to impose these norms on others at the workplace • Parental management of roles of the girl and boy child impact on gender culture, attitudes and motivations for leadership roles (girls-cook,boys-work) • The cultural trap engenders fear of success among females ,a dependency syndrome, creates low confidence such that (both men and women see assertiveness as misplaced in a woman)

Change and Change factors: The Causes or external catalysts that reversed the gender dynamics • Higher levels of female literacy and competitiveness at academic levels • Higher entry of women into training schools • Religious , Cultural and Political tolerance-shifting beliefs and recognition of the ‘power, usefulness and multiplex roles of the girl child’ • Decades of sensitization programmes and the sublime effect of it • Positive traditional practices /systems that show consideration for female leadership roles ‘queen mothers, abusua payin, care-givers, matrilineal systems etc • Advances by female role models in other fields of endeavour –from clergy to secular jobs • Constitutional backing , subsidiary legislation, gender sensitive policies that protect women • The desire by women to break ‘glass ceilings’ and venture into no-go areas • Mentoring and Role models of Visible women especially in the media eg Gifty Affenyi Dadzie, Audrey Gadzekpo, Maggie Amoakohene Akua Dansua etc(WHERE ARE THE WOMEN) • Gravitation towards merit based promotional systems rather than favoritism/nepotism by women

Gaining traction-debatable issues for review • Gender mapping : distinguishing mainstream affirmative efforts in formal and informal sectors, women in public and private life. Age dynamics , rural vrs urban etc • Would women in leadership positions in the media or other sectors accelerate the growth of gender mainstreaming efforts? • Are the same quality and value benchmarks used to assess the effectiveness of men vis their female counterparts at the workplace by both males/females. • What are the thresholds of tolerance for males versus females at the workplace and how does this affect gender mainstreaming efforts? • What is the impact of women personalities’ on gender development and visibility- ie The Roles, Visibility and Persona in Gender development in Ghana • How can women on top translate to effective women empowerment at the workplace?

Gaining traction-debatable issues for review • Resolving conventions and organizational policies that override gender mainstreaming efforts • Do women employees see the workplace as gender insensitive? • Is equal opportunity and access to the media industry commensurate with participation as envisaged under gender mainstreaming? • Effectiveness of sublime gender mainstreaming as against agitation method –issues of traction • Is there a road map for the diverse sectors and who is championing the cause for the media woman? • Which gender considerations appeal more to the media – focus on the vulnerable and less endowed rather than formal sector gender inadequacies??. • What is expected of media women in the efforts of gender affirmative action and how do the media women themselves envisage their roles to be? Balancing the act with their core mandate as journalists

Prerequisites for improving traction-Gender mainstreaming efforts to address these issues and make documentation accessible • Constant awareness creation of institutional culture and implications and how to adapt and modify rather than agitate to suit women only- higher levels of resistance with the latter. • Capacity building : Upgrading of skills at intermittent intervals (orientation programmes, online summer or short courses etc) • Learning to use and adapt to new technologies –ICT tools and information • Job placements must be meritorious –ie women to strive to have the necessary qualifications or experience required to fight for the due position or promotion • Taking up more challenging assignments and stepping outside the ‘box’ eg radio and television engineering, technical aspects • Improving competitiveness alongside male counterparts • Invest in lobbying, advocacy and networking (ie intra and inter women groups) • Highlighting issues of sexual harassment in the workplaces ???

Positive attributes that can be molded to improve gender mainstreaming • Mentoring , • Teamwork, • Listening & information sharing, • Consensus building , • Co-operation and networking • Adaptation to masculine work environment , • Or finding a way around the male ideals of organizational structures, • re-organizing approaches to task performance and solving problems, • Getting round the ‘(masculine reference point for all workers)’ • Empowering women through capacity building and consistent orientation. • Gender desks to be reactivated.

What could be done differently • - Addressing the issues of women's invisibility to improve their access to leadership positions etc (WHERE ARE THE WOMEN CONCEPT) • -Moving the debates from the angle of proponents and opponents of gender issues to balanced reportage of facts and seeking collective solutions from all segments of society including males • -Collate data on the varying impacts of gender mainstreaming and affirmative action on different sections of women in the society and of particular ethnic, cultural or religious orientation .the differences will be significant in assessing areas and the type of strategy to adopt for example : fighting for policy or legislative reforms cannot be standardized in all spheres. In other areas, appeals and a recognition of the multi-task functionality of women may make better inroads. • -Need to document a disaggregation of societal pressures that impact negatively on the growth and development of women in the workplace.

What could be done differently • - Need to identify socio-cultural nuances and the roles and impact on the African gender indices, the feasibility of improving cultural positions to accommodate modified gender themes • -documentation of prejudicial perceptions of both men /women towards women in leadership should be identified and analyzed, women to women relations at the workplace and its impact on gender mainstreaming, and then options made available to guide those who decide to venture into leadership and other affirmative roles. • Greater collaboration and networking needed to build consensus for raising the status of women • Using male advocates to enhance acceptance by the male population of gender issues (debatable but worth trying)

Doing things differently?-Raising the issues • -Do media workplaces have masculine work environments ? • -What is the nature of female representation and at what levels, what are the areas of female concentration and the inducement factors? • -Does the general institutional culture lead to the development and growth of women laterally and vertically? • -Are there visible or sublime workplace constraints to the development or visibility of women ? egin giving of assignments, scheduling media tasks and areas to cover, nominating women for additional training

Doing things differently?-Raising the issues • - How do we address the gender imbalance in editorial comments, front page issues that attract the attention of duty bearers and the public? • - how do we improve goal effectiveness of women to compete on equal grounds? • -Are there empirical studies of wage differentials among males/females that needs to be addressed? • -What ideals should women in the media environment strive for in the empowerment continuum? • -What are the differences in practice with regards to women in the public as against private sector media industry?

Doing things differently?-Raising the issues • Are there studies on gender gaps in the various sectors to encourage the use of alternate gender affirmative resolutions • Are there timelines? Are there country-specific benchmarks for all sectors that women in the media can tap into or women in each niche area are to work out their gender peculiarities? • Is gender mainstreaming relevant in competitive fields of endeavour? • How do we manage cultural perspectives/values and value labels of ourselves and others, the positives and the inhibitive factors by appreciating traditional gender relations and maximizing the benefits .How do we strike the balance? • What are the roles of religion and ethnicity in shaping a better gender subculture in Ghana

Personal Experience sharing as a media and advocacy professional: lessons learnt along the way, • Learning to adapt to the environment without seeking undue advantages • Coming into the field with the merit based approach • Learning to do things and incorporating feminine perspective where the approach by male counterparts is austere. • Learning to speak my mind without being condescending of male counterparts • Learning to engage both males and females through consensus building • Taking up leadership roles and decision making functions with little supervision • Being assertive and yet empathetic- • Multi-tasking myself but balancing traditional roles so as not to feel shortchanged in any aspect • Using less confrontational approaches to affirming my status /role • Making my participation in any endeavour count –if you learn how to wash your hands you are given a chance to eat with the elders • Reliance on supportive traditional systems – family and social networks

Experience sharing –personal challenges • Dealing with males who have very strong stereotyped roles for women –placed women in restricted boxes • As a younger female dealing with older male counterparts and participating and making cogent suggestions- balancing the act with notions of respect for the elderly versus innovative ideas • being mistaken or titled as an ‘underling’ when working with strong male personalities • Presumption of others that your role is based on a sexual relationship and the need to take years to re-orient them to your value addition to the area of work • General male intolerance of female assertiveness in seeking due rights

Way forward What should the gender roadmap or continuum be? How are we prioritizing the issues? From discrimination/lack of recognition to…??? Recognition Acceptance Removal of discriminatory practices Participation Level of involvement –equality and equity Optimal participation Full status

Way forward-highlights • Networking • Mentoring and role modeling to minimize cultural stereotypes • Studying workplace culture and improving women's’ impacts and contributions • Gender mapping and cataloguing progress for dissemination-gaining traction • Creating a gender sub culture to override cultural stereotypes • Shifting from ‘soft issues’ to all –round issues and seeing advocacy issues in all aspects and championing same • Minimizing dependence on quota systems in areas were merit based measures are prescribed indicators and offering quality (tokenism) • Advocating against tokenism especially in terms of political appointments

Way forward-highlights • Encouraging adaptability of women role models to have a blend of ‘male’ and ‘female’ work place characteristics • Call for in-house educational capacity building and ‘virtual training programmes’-ICT Age for women to ensure that they exploit their academic potential. • Undertaking studies on women to women conflicts and its impact on empowerment issues • Enhancing visibility of women in high positions • Encouraging database development /documentation of gender efforts • Balancing the act between gender conscientization and feministic approaches to resolving conflicts or decision making • Increasing ‘affirmative action for men’ in soft issues areas to also get their perspective and to use this to generate the needed change in their counterparts eg domestic violence, child abuse issues,

Way forward- Media specific highlights Media advocacy has tended towards external challenges of women and children and related events and barely on workroom challenges need to start addressing intra-gender issues Lobby government to consider more female representation or a woman as the Chairperson of NMC. NMC to consider Women Board chairpersons for State owned media for different management perspective GJA –lead umbrella associations to encourage gender sensitive culture in the media institutions through award schemes for best gender practices or coverage of issues Women high flyers in the media industry tend to be women from other professional fields and are accorded the due recognition. More opportunities to be created for women in the professional media jobs Develop Who is Who Directory (Profiling Women high Flyers, Those who break through glass ceiling /Prepare Biographies) as reference materials for others to emulate Take up coalition building or institute frontline women advocacy initiatives Advocacy campaigns to target women sensitive issues especially with private media org.

Conclusions • Women empowerment on a silver platter is ‘glazed tokenism’ . The opportunities offered by shifting masculine paradigms, cultural, political and religious tolerance should be taken advantage of now more than ever. • Women need visibility as the most effective ‘beacon’ of gender mainstreaming to reorient the society. • Personality value judgements on the roles of women would be effectively balanced if women adopt the ability to empathize and yet be firm. • Regular Professional and skills development, managing multi-task duties , networking and advocacy should be effectively sustained in the drive to ensure that the changing perceptions of women are seen in a more positive light.

Thank you for your attention!!!!

Gender Research & Advocacy Programme ( G-RAP) Young Professionals Gender Forum