Int’l Women’s Day: Women in media urge colleagues to be technologically savvy

Women in media experts have urged their counterparts to embrace the use of technology while carrying out their jobs to enhance performance and bridge the digital and gender gap.

Women in Media made this known on Tuesday in Abuja, during a one-day training workshop.

The theme of the workshop was: “Mainstreaming Gender in Media Reportage and Digital Messaging.”

It was organised by a non-governmental organisation, Women In Media Development Initiative (WIMDI).

The training was in commemoration of the 2023 International Women’s Day with the theme: “DigitALL: Innovation Technology for Gender Equality.”

One of the facilitators, Mrs Rafatu Salami, said that modern journalists need indispensable tools such as computers, video conferencing software, smartphones and social media data tracking to get the job done.

She also said that possessing digital journalism skills would be an added advantage to carry out their jobs.

She urged women in the media to invest in themselves and continually seek training opportunities in the digital space.

“Technology is moving at a rate that we need to keep up with and as women we don’t just need to skill ourselves, we need to reskill and upskill. We need to understand that as the technology is moving, we have to keep the pace.

“So today, a female journalist who wants to excel must be a multimedia journalist, the dichotomy between print radio, television and online has phased out, one person should embody all that.

“That is why female journalists must understand that they need to be using a smartphones.

“They should be able to record her videos, edit her videos, write her scripts, and transmit for publication with just one device because the era of conducting interviews outside and coming back to the office to write the story has gone,” she said.

Salami added that the job should be done using the smartphone or laptop as they both have editing materials and software that could get the job done and keep them in competition.

As for time management, she said that for a woman to excel in her job, she must manage her time and have a work-home life balance, otherwise one will suffer at the expense of others.

“That is where technology comes in. What it was in the past is not what obtains now.

“Before, you had to work in the field, be in station to edit and transmit your stories, but now you can record everything, and go home to process it instead of going to the office and that is technology.

“So we have to encourage women to embrace technological advances, it will help them on their jobs and also help them run their homes,” she said.

The Convener of WIMDI, Mrs Rita Eghujovbo, said that the NGO which was created in 2015 aims at encouraging women in media, irrespective of the department they work in, to hone their skills and upgrade themselves.

She noted that as the media is the fourth estate of the realm, it is very important that its female practitioners, irrespective of their field of expertise, are well informed and trained, especially in technological advancements.

“It is very important that we are on top of our game. I don’t know how it came to be that there are beats that they say are soft beats so women should be there while certain beats are for men, like there is an unwritten constitution that we are not able to stand the heat of certain beats.

“Then we’re talking about a digital video or television, you can actually do these things from your phone. You know even the phone we hold in our hands and just use to take selfie can deliver the goods at the end of the day.”

She said that the training was also aimed at bringing together the female media practitioners to get them to network with each other and create an avenue to mentor younger ones who are upcoming in the field.

The purpose of the International Women’s Day, commemorated on March 8 every year, is to uphold women’s achievements, recognise challenges, and focus greater attention on women’s rights.