Afrigather 
The media panorama is altering. An increasing number of individuals are consuming their information on digital platforms, and the manufacturing of content material is shifting from conventional information shops to impartial producers and bloggers. Because of this, the way in which we inform tales about girls throughout the Nigerian media panorama wants to vary.
We wish to see extra tales about girls being informed from their very own views fairly than via the lens of male characters who communicate for them. We would like creators who aren’t afraid to problem their very own preconceptions about what makes a great story; who aren’t afraid to discover extra nuanced feminine subjects and who aren’t afraid of going in opposition to conference and in addition making a extra balanced narrative when exploring the female and male relationships.
The normal approach of telling tales about girls was usually targeted on their flaws and failures–the type of tales that make us really feel unhealthy about ourselves or worse about our personal lives. However now there are such a lot of extra optimistic tales on the market! There are girls who’ve overcome adversity, or who’ve made unbelievable sacrifices to be able to obtain one thing nice.
We’re not speaking about simply any girl, both. We imply the type of girls who make a distinction in our world–those who’re making waves and altering issues for the higher. Those who’re breaking stereotypes and making waves in their very own methods.
Learn additionally: IWD 2023: Celebrating women making magic behind, in front of the cameras
As a way to accomplish this, we have to change the way in which we take into consideration telling tales about girls. We have to take a look at them as leaders, not simply as victims or heroines.
We all know that there are many tales on the market about girls who’ve been victimized by males and society at massive–tales that target their victimization as a substitute of their power and resilience. However it’s time for us all to cease specializing in these tales and begin taking a look at how these girls have modified our world for the higher via their actions!
Digital innovation ought to change the way in which we inform tales about how girls, and in return change the way in which we see ourselves.
We’ve all the time been informed that ladies are sturdy and succesful, however there’s one thing particular about having the ability to see your self in a bit of media and really feel prefer it’s true–that it displays your personal values and experiences. I consider digital innovation ought to propel cultural shift that displays in how we inform tales about girls throughout the Nigerian media panorama
The world of know-how is altering our lives in methods which can be unimaginable. It has given us the chance to mission our tales as females inside our neighborhood and in addition at a world scale
The media panorama is present process a interval of change. With the arrival of digital media, it has develop into simpler than ever for folks to share their concepts, ideas and emotions with others via social media platforms.
This implies that there’s a better alternative for African girls to be represented within the media panorama than ever earlier than. The present state of affairs within the media panorama has left many points unresolved and others unaddressed. A few of these points embrace: poor illustration of ladies throughout the media area in driving feminine inclusion in politics, lack of range in content material creation, lack of impartial manufacturing corporations tailor-made to telling extra optimistic tales of ladies throughout the media panorama.
What then can we do to guarantee that we’ve higher illustration of ladies throughout the media panorama?
1. Girls should be seen in all areas of manufacturing, together with content material creation and reporting on points affecting girls. In addition to extra feminine reporters protecting tales associated to gender equality points,
2. There ought to be extra coaching for journalists to allow them to higher perceive how women and men are affected by these points in a different way and the way they will report on them accordingly.
3. There must be extra range within the media panorama in order that people who find themselves not represented within the media can really feel like they will additionally inform their tales via their very own lens with out feeling excluded or ignored as a result of they don’t match right into a sure class or stereotype.”
4 Encourage feminine journalists to pursue tales which can be sometimes informed from a male perspective, and serving to them attain out to different feminine journalists for assist.
5 Undertake a extra inclusive method to reporting, together with utilizing extra numerous sources and views.
6 Create alternatives for ladies to foster their very own voices via mentorship applications and workshops.
As we proceed to mission our values as Nigerian girls, I hope to see a optimistic change in how we inform the story of a median Nigerian girl within the media area. We should start to vary the narrative of what it means to be a Nigerian girl, cease projecting our restricted experiences of some girls as a illustration of ALL girls in Nigeria.
