By Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
FREETOWN, Aug. 3 (232News) – The Sierra Leone Association of Women in Journalism (SLAWIJ) on Saturday holds orientation for new members on the Theme: Women journalists taking center stage in media development.
The orientation is part of effort not only to bring in members but to also educate new members about the values of the association.
In her opening remarks, the founding member Mather Kargbo welcome members while noting that female journalists are important in the field of journalism.
She called on the new members to continue holding the fort despite the challenges.
“Let us continue holding ourselves together as women as we have very important role to play. We have important role to play as media practitioners. Let make the best use of our profession and let us continue to do what we do best.
Ms. Kargbo noted that SLAWIJ started in 2019 while 2020 was used to put thing in place.
“Today’s event is to conclude our recruitment process as we want to change the narrative. Let be positive about ourselves. We want to show to the world and Sierra Leone that women can do better and contribute to their own development.
SLAWIJ President, Mrs. Millicent Kargbo, in her presentation said the journalism profession has huge challenges and more especially for female journalists, pointing out that as members of SLAWIJ, they want to change the narrative.
She said before now people used to say negative things about female journalists but they want to break that barrier.
Mrs. Kargbo noted that SLAWIJ is a body corporate with the core aim to promote the welfare of female journalists and to increase their visibility to transform the media landscape.
“Our vision is to build an informed gender sensitive media with empowered women journalists in leadership positions. Our mission seeks to advocate for the rights of women. Our objective is to advocate for issues affecting us. Advocate for the rights of women journalists as most journalists get little/ no pay while working as journalist. Most of us are not having the minimum wage and the more reason we are having this as part of our work.”
She said the aspect of sexual harassment is common in the news room but that they can put it behind our back if they are serious in what they do.
“We have to put the best in our work as we continue to promote gender issues. We want our women to build their capacity and go into positions of trust.
Mrs. Kargbo noted that the association has four key areas of focus and these include advocacy and communication, capacity building, research and development.
“We also do outreach with regular engagement with communities. This is to showcase what we do and the things we are engage in. At SLAWIJ, we strive to promote gender issues.
She called on the new members to be serious on what they do and make sure they comport themselves and behave well at all times.
