Media and gender strategy for West Africa

A regional seminar on media and gender strategy for West Africa took place in Dakar on December 18-20, 2006. The seminar was organized jointly by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Africa Regional Office and FAMEDEV-Inter African Net Work for Women, Media, Gender Equity and Development.

The process leading to the meeting started in 2001, following the recommendations of the Seoul meeting at which the IFJ identified gender as a top priority in all IFJ activities. He stated that it is in this regard that FAMEDEV in partnership with the IFJ conducted a gender audit in the West African sub region in order to assess the working conditions of women in the media sector as well as to look at the issues that hinder their progress in holding key decision-making positions in the media.

In 2004, IFJ held a conference in Athens, Greece and each region was required to come up with a plan of action on gender issues and a programme on gender equity and equality in African media houses.

Over the years there have been lots of discussions and debates on gender issues but it is necessary to adopt concrete steps, the first step being to develop an action plan and to strategise on the way forward.

Download report : Media and Gender Strategy Meeting March 2007 English final _2_.pdf