Bauchi NAWOJ Trains Female Journalists On Gender Sensitive Reporting, Leadership Skills, Career Growth

The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, Bauchi State Chapter has trained female Journalists in the state on Gender sensitive reporting, leadership skills and career growth.

Declaring the training open in Jos, Plateau State, the Bauchi State Chairperson NAWOJ, Rashida Yusuf said that the training was aimed at equipping members with skills to report Gender issues with empathy as well as empowering them with the emerging reporting techniques on how to report gender sensitive issues.

Rashida said that the training was the second phase for Bauchi female Journalists, pointing out that training and retraining of Journalists is key in upholding best practices of the profession.

She said that the 20 female Journalists who participated in the training were drawn from various media organisations across the state, adding that more trainings are in the pipeline to build the capacities of female Journalists.

The Bauchi NAWOJ Chairperson commended the office of the Bauchi State Special Adviser on Media and Publicity for supporting the training, saying that the support has really helped the association in achieving its goals.

Also Speaking at the training, the NUJ Chairman Plateau state council,Mrs Ayuku Pwaspo encouraged female Journalists to be a voice to the voiceless in the society by becoming agents of change in their various communities.

She said that female Journalists should take up leadership roles in the society as well as partner with other media organisations that seeks to address Gender violence and get news updates.

” You are a change agent in your community as female Journalists because issues of gender based violence are happening in the society everyday.We should combat gender bias by becoming a voice to the voiceless in our communities.

‘We can achieve a lot as Journalists in our media spaces like posting our reports on platforms such as the Facebook page, twitter handles, Instagram and other platforms.We must increase our presence in the digital media by sharing positive stories, thereby becoming influential voices because times have changed” she said

A Facilitator at the training, Mrs Lilian Idiaghe who spoke on building confidence and leadership skills, noted that self awareness, mentorship, training and development, risk taking, taking on leadership roles and self-care are crucial in enhancing the career of female Journalists.

She said that journalism plays a crucial role in shaping public opinion and influencing societal attitudes, adding that biases in storytelling can perpetuate harmful stereotypes an reinforce existing imbalances.