The Media Council of Kenya has called for concerted efforts to promote women’s participation in politics. The Council says capacity building of women is key in boosting women’s engagement with the media.
MCK Director for Media Training and Development Mr Victor Bwire told a meeting convened by the Council in Kakamega for women politicians that gender equality in political participation and leadership was a fundamental human right that women should enjoy.
He added that many female politicians shied off the media, thus losing opportunities to reach their electorate. He underscored the importance of gender sensitive reporting to ensure inclusivity in media coverage for both male and female candidates.
The Kakamega meeting was a pilot training project by the Council aimed at enhancing women participation in politics through the media. It brought together 15 women vying for various political seats and eight journalists drawn from media houses across the region.
“The Council continues to explore opportunities to promote women participation in the political processes through the media. We also aim to build your capacity in communications and media skills to effectively engage with journalists to be able to sell your manifesto to the electorate”, noted Mr Bwire.
“The media are powerful channels of information dissemination. Media must embrace gender-sensitive reporting to bridge the gap of under-representation of women in news before, during and after elections. The preoccupation of women as mainly victims must be addressed and done away with”, he said.
The women politicians were urged to be keen when packing information to ensure effectiveness in delivery. They were also encouraged to engage with communication experts to help build their communication and media relations skills.
“Effective information packaging and messaging are essential in delivery of political messages by women through the media. Women in politics have an obligation to develop necessary skills in effective communication and where possible work closely with communication and media practitioners in ensuring clarity, correctness, conciseness, consistency and completeness of messages is achieved”, said Mr Bwire.