Week One - Introduction to discussion on gender

[Busi_Ngcebetsha]

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the gender e-discussion. My name is Busi Ngcebetsha, I am the moderator for this e-discussion. You will learn more about me a little bit later.

Gender equality is a fundamental human right. Yet despite progress, women and girls around the world do not fully experience equality. Women are underrepresented in power and decision-making roles. They often have unequal access to resources, including land, agricultural inputs, and markets. They continue to be targets of physical and sexual abuse.

Our discussion starts today and runs for four weeks. We will focus on topics such as:

• Understanding gender equality

• How gender equality is addressed in radio programming, specifically in farmer programs

• The challenges women face with regards gender equality

• How to improve women’s participation on radio programs

• What strategies can be put into place to ensure gender equality at home and in the workplace?

These 4 weeks are a chance for us all to learn from each other. I would also like to introduce our resource person for this e-discussion @somedshahadu, he will tell us more about himself shortly.

This is what you have to do this week:

1. Click on the “reply” button and introduce yourself. Your introduction should include your name, where you are from, the name of your radio station or organisation, and your role.

2. After introducing yourself, please tell us what you understand about gender equality.

3. Respond to other people’s posts.

If there are other topics that are not related to gender you would like to discuss you can visit the Cafe make a post there.

Active participants who introduce themselves in week 1 and make at least three meaningful posts in weeks 2, 3 and 4 will receive an “Active Participant” certificate at the end of the discussion.

[Alu]

Nice to see us focus on other key areas. I am looking forward to these discussions Busi, many thanks

[Busi_Ngcebetsha]

Welcome @Alu, we are happy to have you here. For purposes of others, please introduce yourself and share your understanding of gender equality.

[Gideon]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Gideon Kwame Sarkodie Osei. I am the Morning show Host, News Editor, Agriculture programs Producer and Host at ADARS FM in Ghana. I am also a Broadcaster Trainer with Farm Radio International’s Ghana Office.
I am excited to be here. Looking forward for an interesting and educative discussion. Gender is a very important subject in modern development models.
Good to be here.

[Busi_Ngcebetsha]

Welcome @Gideon

We are delighted to have you here and we are looking forward to learning more from you through sharing experiences.

@Gideon

Gender is a very important subject in modern development models.

This is true, but what is your understanding of gender equality?

[Wandeba]

Hello, this is Alex Wandeba I am from Uganda working with Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) Radio.

I play a number of roles at the station but I produce and present “Farmer of the Week program”, “District Focus program”,news reporter and news anchor.

Gender equality is having equal access to a variety of opportunities inclusive of economic, political and decision making especially in homes irrespective of one’s sex.

[Busi_Ngcebetsha]

Hello @Wandeba

Welcome!

We are glad you have joined us. We are looking forward to hearing more from you especially with regards gender equality on your farmer program.

@Wandeba

Gender equality is having equal access to a variety of opportunities inclusive of economic, political and decision making especially in homes irrespective of one’s sex.

I like your explanation of gender equality but is that easily achieved?

[Denis]

Hello colleagues.

My name is Danis Ngwenya. I’m from Zimbabwe, residing in the country’s second capital Bulawayo. I’m the Programs Officer at a community radio initiative called YFM Bulawayo. I’m sure if you follow news you should be aware that as a country, we are still lagging behind in many fronts, media included. Zimbabwe is probably the only country in SADC region which is yet to embrace the three tier broadcasting system. I’m responsible for the implementation of activities since we don’t do live broadcast as we are not licensed yet. We have alternative ways of reaching to our constituency like audio productions, social media etc. In brief that is me.

Gender equality has been a common phrase on our screens and other media forms for a long time now. There are a number of misconceptions around this topic which in most cases causes division than unity. I remember the days when women went to Beijing and upon their return, opinions were deeply divided depending on where one is standing. Be as it may, society has for a long time segregated people based on sex. My own understanding is that gender equality refers to equal treatment of people of both sexes. It means what can be done by a male person can also be done by a female though there are controversies surrounding this topic… I hope to hear the views of other people. …

[Gideon]

Gender Equality means giving equal or same economic, political, social, educational and cultural value to rights, responsibilities and opportunities to people regardless of their gender .

[Buzo]

My name is Christian Chibuzo Maduka. I am a Media Trainer, Broadcast, Communications and Social Marketing Expert from Nigeria. I am happy to be part of this e-Discussion on Gender as it relates to Radio Programming and more. I look forward to robust discussion from all the participants from different parts of our Continent. The issues of gender integration and social inclusion has been getting lots of attention for more than two decades now. Our inputs and outcome of this activity will surely contribute to the development of our society and communities.

[CHRISTABEL]

Am Christabel Darko RAO WIAD for Oti Region. Happy to be part of this noble platform; ready to learn more about geder. Gender equality is a situation where men and women have equal opportunity to access resources.

[Erita]

For me, I think Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between, masculinity and femininity. Depending on the context, these characteristics may include biological sex, sex-based social structures, or gender identity.

[pprincehasevi91]

Gender equality is social roles and responsibilities which to award women and men equally according to their potentials, intellectual, political, socioeconomic status of works. My Department currently has adopted several interventions to enhance women capabilities in Agricultural development and health, program called WIAD meaning Women In Agriculture Development which contain food fortification with soybean, Cassava processing into flour, tomato processing etc. we believe when women are empowered their communities automatically developed. My initiative is to also campaign against advertising of products with half-naked or nude portraits of women, I think it the first call of gender equality
From Prince Hasevi,
District Agric Officer, Author, Advocate, Innovator
Ghana

[Busi_Ngcebetsha]

Hello @Denis

Welcome! We are happy to have you join us.

@Denis

My own understanding is that gender equality refers to equal treatment of people of both sexes. It means what can be done by a male person can also be done by a female though there are controversies surrounding this topic… I hope to hear the views of other people

Thank you for sharing your understanding and yes we will hear what others are saying.

[Busi_Ngcebetsha]

Hello @Buzo

Welcome to the discussion on gender. We are delighted to have you here.

@Buzo

The issues of gender integration and social inclusion has been getting lots of attention for more than two decades now. Our inputs and outcome of this activity will surely contribute to the development of our society and communities.

Yes we hope more and more people will learn a lot through this discussion and change their perceptions and how they address gender issues in their areas.

[Busi_Ngcebetsha]

Hello @CHRISTABEL

Welcome to our discussion platform! We are happy to have you. I can see this is your first time here. We hope you will enjoy the ride and learn from others as they will also learn from you.

Thank you for sharing your understanding of gender equality. I like what you said here:

@CHRISTABEL

Gender equality is a situation where men and women have equal opportunity to access resources.

The question is, is it the case in your area? Are men and women having equal opportunities?

[somedshahadu]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Somed Shahadu. I am from Tamale in northern Ghana but currently completing my doctoral thesis at the University of Ottawa. I was the Breakfast Show host at Radio Justice, a local fm station broadcasting in English and two local dialects (Dagbanli and Gonja). I was also a producer of several talk-shows for the five years I worked at the station - 2006 to 2011, during which time I also served as Acting News Editor.

Having left for further education in Canada since 2011, I have studied and researched the issue of gender equality which I care passionately about owing to my own life experiences, and my conviction in the values of social justice. I am particulalrly interested in the intersection between broadcast media (specifically radio) and gender equality, with particular interest in the transformative potential of using radio to empower minority groups who are under-reported and under-represented in the news. We are all aware that special qualities of radio - high coverage, easy access, broadcasting in local dialects, community participation, and mobilizing force for community action - present a unique opportunity to use it as the tool to bring about social change in our communities with reference to the issue of gender inequality.

I am very excited to be part of this online discussion group. I will be serving this group as facilitator for this online discussion. This means I am available to stimulate the discussion and perhaps to help find answers to some of the questions, views, and opinions that may be shared in the discussion. As my colleague Busi mentioned, our discussion runs for four weeks and there will be focus on topics such as:

Understanding gender equality

How gender equality is addressed in radio programming, specifically in farmer programs

The challenges women face with regards gender equality

How to improve women’s participation on radio programs

What strategies can be put into place to ensure gender equality at home and in the workplace?

These 4 weeks are a chance for us all to learn from each other. I thank you all for your particpation and for your cooperation.

Somed.

[somedshahadu]

@Busi_Ngcebetsha

I like your explanation of gender equality but is that easily achieved?

I think the first point is to try to understand what the word ‘gender’ means: what is gender?

[somedshahadu]

@Wandeba

Gender equality is having equal access to a variety of opportunities inclusive of economic, political and decision making especially in homes irrespective of one’s sex.

This is good point about equal access to socio-economic and political opportunities to advance personal growth irrespective of the individual’s biological sex.