By Sainabou Sanneh
Women Journalist Association of The Gambia (WoJAG) has rebranded the association and adopted its constitution under the theme Shattering the Glass Ceiling in the Gambia Media.
The daylong ceremony was held at the Paradise Suites Hotel, Senegambia on the 13th of December 2022.
WoJAG is meant to empower the women journalists in The Gambia and have them speak in their voices and prevent them from any form of sexual harassment.
In her remarks, the president of the WoJAG, Annette Anta Camara who welcomed various stakeholders with gratitude and deep honour to the launching of WOJAG said the convergence is in fulfillment of the campaign promise they made on February 25, 2022, at their first ever congress held at YMCA.
She said their discourse aimed at challenges faced by women in media to provide better solutions for strategic actions to facilitate women’s opportunities in the media.
She added that the review and adoption of the constitution and repositioning of WoJAG to become a highly functional association that will engender the realization of our vision for a sustainable future for women in the media.
“It could be recalled that the recent annual journalist award reveal 49 shortlisted candidates of all categories of award, only 16 were women which equates to just about 33 percent and roughly overall total submission from women.
“We need some serious work to get the gender balance It is well said that The Gambia Media is male-dominated by few women who break the glass in the newsroom and are going through tremendous challenges ranging from sexual harassment to gender discrimination in employment matters such as promotion and reallocation.
Amie Joof Cole, a journalist, and activist said men and women in media are not enemies, What women are doing is not only on to the media but the development of this country and the government should always answer to their calls and give them courage, and always give them the support needed.
Honourable Bakary Y Badjie, the minister for youth and sports said as the majority of the members of the Association are young it makes his Ministry a critical partner.
He assured to support WoJAG as fifty percent of the population of this country is women and for that reason, he believed that women should take the centre stage in everything happening likewise holding significant Representatives in the media and political participation at large.
He added that passion is what motivates and women journalists should believe in themselves and do it to change the dynamic of both the present and the future.
Muhammed S Bah, the president of The Gambia Press Union mentioned the role of women in the media stating that it is very key and revolves around four aspects of media, which are ensuring media freedom, enhancing media, strengthening media independence, and also very key safety.
The challenges that women face in media is far from what the male encounter and the issue should be addressed as women journalists are equally committed to national development.
Mr Demba Kandeh representative of the freedom house said promoting rights and Justice in The Gambia is fully funded by the American Government through the support of USAID, which is implemented by the freedom house association and the American Government’s rule of law initiative.
PRJ aims to improve and strengthen the media and civil society effectively and safely enjoy their civil and political rights. Additionally, PRJ works to support the justice sector of The Gambia, particularly the ministry of justice and judiciary of The Gambia to advance democracy good governance, and protection of fundamental human rights says the inspection of rights we have had collaborations with the media, civil society, the government of the Gambia and continue to support the initiative aim and improving the media, civil society, and the justice sector.
A representative from the US Embassy, Susan, a country is judged by its media, and with a passion, she observed and said the future is very good.
Adding that, with the challenges that women journalists faced working towards ending it makes her delighted to conclude that the UN embassy is looking forward to seeing what the Association will accomplish during this new chapter.
