Somali Women Journalists Organization (SWJO),has conducted a round table discussion media in Baidoa on Monday to assess the implementation of gender declaration signed by the media houses in 2018.
The event which was held at Horyal hotel in Baidoa was attended by media directors, media associations, Southwest ministers of information and women and Human rights and female journalists from different media houses operating in Baidoa.
Leila Osman, who represented SWJO at the meeting welcomed the participants to the discussion and gave brief explanation on the purpose of the round table meeting.
She described the meeting as a follow up exercise aimed to determine what the media houses have done since signing the gender declaration before two years.
Muhidin Hassan Mohamed, the chairman of Southwest Journalists association highlighted that the awareness of directors and private media owners on gender equality has improved since signing the declaration. Muhidin urged the directors to implement the declaration and strengthen the role of women in media.
Southwest minister of information, Ilyas Said Ali hailed the follow up meeting organized by Somali Women Journalists Organization. Recalling the importance of achieving gender equality in media, the minister underlined that his ministry will take a leading role aimed to guarantee women journalists get equal opportunities in the sector.
On her side, Southwest minister of women and human rights, Fahima Osman Omar advised the female journalists to aim higher and put more efforts in the fight for equal rights at the workplace. She stressed that the overall objective of gender equality is to realize a society in which men and women share same rights, obligations and opportunities in all spheres of life.
Leila Osman has presented the guiding principles of the declaration which the directors signed to the participants of the round table meeting.
After tea break, an open discussions session was held where the media directors managed to clarify what they have implemented and the challenges they faced in the approval of the principles since signing the declaration.
On their side, the female journalists in attendance presented the opportunities they received so far from the time their respective directors penned the document.
The media houses across Somalia signed gender respect declaration in December 2018. The declaration anchored on the benchmarks of equality at workplace, maternity leave for female journalists, commitment to fight harassment and violence against female journalists, commitment to remove gender-based restrictions during recruitment and equal pay and career opportunities.
The main aim of the declaration was to transform the predominant culture and create a tangible change for women working in the Somali media sector.
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