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By Donald Theo-Harding
The Minister of Information and Communication Hon Mohamed Rahman Swarray on Tuesday 21st February, 2023 launched the Policy Brief and 2023 Media Gender Scorecard on the coverage of women in politics, peace and security issues in Sierra Leone. The launch which attracted media and gender stakeholders was held at the Atlantic Hotel, Beach Road in Freetown. The Policy Brief was held by the Initiatives for Media Development (iMdev) funded by the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives CFLI/FCIL. The brief is based on strengthening the political participation of women in Sierra Leone through Media Monitoring of Gender Sensitive Reporting. The 2023 Media Scorecard research was implemented over 12 weeks and covered a total of 226 stories published in Newspapers, broadcast on Radio and Television, and disseminated on news websites.
While launching the book, Minister Swarray expressed government’s commitment to work towards the recently enacted Gender Bill to the point that every Ministry, Department and Agency has been mandated to establish a gender division. He pointed out that this is the right time to be a woman in Sierra Leone and reassured that with the passing of the Gender Bill, government will bring more women to the table. He pledged government’s support to the media in reporting women issues and revealed that their plan is for Television to be available in every district.
The Executive Director Initiatives for Media Development, Yeama Sarah Thompson, informed that the analysis of the findings revealed that men dominated media coverage during the period leading to elections (covering October 2022 to January 2023) with a limited representation of women in the news. She added that the coverage of women candidates was often limited to their gender, with less focus on their political platforms or qualifications. She said that to ensure that both genders are represented in a fair and equal manner, it is essential to increase efforts towards sensitization and awareness raising, leverage media influence to bring important issues related to inequality and gender bias to the fore front and sensitive media organisations on gender-sensitive reporting during the election period. Madam Thompson concluded that the findings of the project, highlights the need for increased gender-sensitive reporting in media during elections in Sierra Leone. She ended up by saying that the policy recommendations can help support the political participation of women in Sierra Leone, contributing to greater gender quality and social justice.
The Honorary Consul Canadian High Commission in Sierra Leone, Kofie McCauley explained that The CFLI is a small grant program SUPPORTING TWO PARTNERS IN Sierra Leone including IMDEV. He noted that iMdevs CFLI project seeks to promote the political participation of women in Sierra Leone thrhrough media monitoring of gender sensitive repoting to promote women’s participation in Sierra Leone’s election’s processes. He pointed out that Canada applies a feminist approach to all the work they do.
Program Officer UNWomen, Madam Baindu Massaquoi, while making a statement noted that the media industry has an important sphere of influence on how people shape their gender norms. She cited that numerous studies have highlighted the lack of equality and fairness in the media coverage of women and men. “When a woman runs for office, her gender is almost always a focus for debate,” she said. UN Women, she pointed out, realizes that it is imperative that the media in Sierra Leone always looks both women and men as equals by offering them both the coverage they each deserve. “It is not too late, nor impossible for this situation to Change. This is more so if more stakeholders – government, media houses, individual reporters, civil society organisations, media regulators, media product consumers- adhere to internationally accepted standards as well as legal instruments and frame works,” Madam Massaquoi said. She ended up by congratulating IMDev for embarking on what she described as an all-important venture again for the 2023 elections.
Statements in support of the launch and gender issues were made by the President of SLAJ Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, acting Executive Director, Campaign for Good Governance Sahr Kendema and Dr. Sharon Omotusa , Research Fellow (Gender/Media studies) University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The programme was chaired by the Dr. Victor Massaquoi Chairperson Independent Media Commission.
