African Women in the Media, is a network for African women working in media industries anywhere in the world. Our aim is to impact positively the way media functions in relation to women, and our vision is that one day women of African heritage will have equal access to representation and opportunities in media industries and media content.
AWiM Conferences brings together media stakeholders, policy makers, academia and CSOs in the field of gender and media. AWiM2020 is our fourth conference and we are pleased to once again have the African Union as our title partners as we speak to key continental agendas. We are also pleased to have the European Union support our Pitch Zone and Awards this year under five categories. With the support of WAN-IFRA Women in News, delegates have had the opportunity to attend a live event on How to Pitch. This year, we also introduce the Labour Migration Reporting Awards in partnership with the International Organisation for Migration, International Labour Organisation and the African Union under the Joint Labour Migration Programme. With the support of Fojo Media Institute registered attendees will be receiving a daily in-depth newsletter relating to the key themes of AWiM2020.
With the theme Reimagining Futures: Women in Media, Peace and Technologies, AWiM2020 Virtual takes place on a dedicated website, and will run as a virtual conference, combining pre-recorded presentations and a one-day live event.
Re-imagining Futures reflects innovation in media industries, and the growing drive to change the narrative of Africa globally, particularly as African countries work towards achieving a dominant global position, urgent objectives like Silencing the Guns by 2020, Free movement of people and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Issues around movement, immigration, peace and security, and the lived experiences, roles and insights of women in media practitioners and researchers make the AWiM2020 Virtual a timely focal point. A special section focused on COVID-19 and the work done by African women journalists will highlight lessons learnt.
In this respect, AWiM2020 Virtual contributes to agendas on the African continent and globally, namely:
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The African Union Commission’s Agenda 2063 Aspiration 4, which aspires to a “peaceful and secure Africa”, and Aspiration 6 with the specific goal of “an Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children ”;
The United Nations’ Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 5, particularly in the aspect of representation. SDG 5 reports a 1% global growth in the representation of women in managerial positions from 26% in 2015, to 27% in 2018, and that this increase is seen in “all regions except in least developed countries.
African Women in the Media
Understanding the lived experiences of African women in media is essential to guiding policy and advocacy agendas towards ensuring that countries and media organisations create the necessary enabling environment for women in media to effectively execute their work.
Part of this initiative to create enabling environments constitutes a reliable tool for monitoring how well countries and organisations comply with women’s rights, and a means of obtaining data that will support journalists to perform their functions. Safety is however indispensable for bringing about these enabling environments.
Leadership mentoring is the number one area in which AWiM’s support is requested. Increasing the number of women appointed in leadership positions of media organisations and governing bodies is critical to creating an enabling environment that can also contribute to improving sensitive reporting around gendered topics like Sexual and Gender Based Violence.
Peacebuilding and Movement
Recognising the central role women play in conflict prevention and mediation efforts in Africa, the African Union established the FemWise-Africa (Network of African Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation), in the context of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). Similarly, the flagship project of the African passport and free movement of Africans within Africa, is a key example of efforts towards better intra-Africa relations that have great potential to contribute to cultural and creative exchange.
Calls on the media and particularly female journalists in Africa to utilise their profession to both raise awareness and mediate in conflict, gives rise to pertinent questions around the effectiveness of media-for-peace initiatives, the lived experiences of African women in the media in security reporting, and policy provisions in this regard. The National Action Plan of South Sudan is notable for its extensive provision for female journalists.
Finally, how is discourse around conflict, displacement and humanitarian crises in Africa constructed and represented in media and creative industries? How might we challenge these narratives?
Emerging Technologies & Women Empowerment
Technologies have contributed both positively and negatively to empowerment of women in media. On the positive side, it has contributed to closing the gender gap of media ownership, with female media entrepreneurs setting up their own online media organisations.
Social media enabled women only groups has provided spaces for women to share their stories and change the narrative. The #BeingFemaleinNigeria hashtag, is an example of how activism for the rights of women, the mobilization of resistance, and mutual solidarity, is utilising the transformative potentials of social media platforms. But it has also presented challenges with the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) reporting that “online harassment was cited as the biggest threat by 90%” of female journalists in the U.S. and 71% in Canada.
As we consider how Africa will use the Fourth Industrial Revolution with emerging technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Realty (VR), Data Science, Robotics and Blockchain, how might we deploy these for women’s empowerment? How might we close the tech gender gap? How might we address cyber security?
Join the conversation on twitter using #AWIM2020
For more information on the program https://awim2020.africanwomeninmedia.com
For media inquiries contact:
Janet Faith Adhiambo Ochieng | Communications Officer- Agenda 2063 | African Union Commission I E-mail: ochiengj@african-union.org
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@african-union.org I Website: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
For further information: Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@african-union.org I
Website: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
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