A Non-Governmental Organisation known as Women in Media Development Initiative (WIMDI) has enjoined female journalists to be technologically savvy to bridge the gender skills gap in the media profession.
The call was made in Abuja at a one-day training in commemoration of International Women’s Day, IWD 2023, exploring the topic, ” Mainstreaming Gender in Media Reportage and Digital Messaging”, in tune with the International Women’s Day (IWD), global theme: “DigitalALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”.
The Director of WIMDI, Rita Eghujovbo, explained that digital skills will enhance productivity and the effectiveness of women in the workplace.“We decided to do this to mark international women’s day which is every 8th of March and the theme of this year has to do with cyberspace and digitalisation. We in the media definitely need to upgrade and keep upgrading ourselves as far as social media is concerned, as far as tech is concerned so that we will do what we are doing better.”
“A woman might know how to do the job, but the men are the ones in the media taking the glory.
“Women in the media must mentor others because it is not enough for you to know, share the knowledge and your mentees will share it with others and before you know what is happening, it will spread.
“Women in the media must not lag behind, upgrade when it comes to tech know what is trending. We are our sister’s keepers, not competitors.” She said.
One of the Facilitators, Mrs Rafat Salami, said the training gives women in the media an opportunity to learn about technology that can enhance their work output.
‘‘Women have to improve their skills to stay relevant. When women deploy technology to their work, it improves their output.
‘‘For women in the media, it is as important as every female journalist must be a multimedia journalist. You must be able to use all the multimedia platforms to do your work. If you are left behind, then you will lose out on the job, so as women journalists, we must up our skills’’ she said.
Participants at the training drawn from different media organizations said the training sharpened their understanding of new opportunities in the tech world, gave a new network window and instilled confidence in them to acquire relevant skills necessary to improve the efficiency in their field.
Women In Media Development Initiative, WIMDI is a non-governmental organisation that has trained about one thousand females in different areas of the profession to help them become more proficient in amplifying gender issues, and at the same time usher in storytelling that influences and inspires a global scale.
Dominica Nwabufo
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