By Ephraim Modi D.S
The Undersecretary at the National Ministry of Gender, Child and Social welfare, Esther Ekere has challenged the way in which young girls are being brought up by their parents in the society.
The Undersecretary made the statement on Wednesday while addressing a workshop organized for women leaders and female journalists on leadership skills.
Addressing the women, Ms. Ekere said women are not well trained to mingle in the public which has affected them to a point of not being able to appear in the civic society.
“You see for us women, we are not trained or thought to be in the public, from our upbringing, socialization process, and this has affected us up to this level,” she said.
Ekere also underlined that the media practice is being monopolized by men and number of women journalists can rarely be seen in the public domain.
“Most of the time, we think that the media is for men, men who are in position are the ones to be in the media,” she said.
The Undersecretary stressed that women should revise this stereotype and believe that everybody has the right to be in the media to present his or her own matters of concern, and that this should the perspective that women can take forward.
She further emphasized on promotion of gender equality in the media in terms of having female media officers.
She also commended the female journalists and urged those who have chosen to be in the media to remove fear and change the narrative of men’s dominance in the media.
“Take it up, professionalize and advance in the career to be able to amplify the voices of women in the country and become role models to the young girls,” she said.
The Undersecretary also questioned the female journalists to be visiting the women leaders to bring on board their voices to the public.
She further recommended a need to create a platform of mobilizing women for agenda of discussions to better equip women with enough of how to appear on the media.