The role of women in national development cannot be overemphasized and since the Media plays a paramount role in National development, Change Agent Media eulogizes women in the media as we celebrate international women’s day.
Women are gradually taking the media landscape, because they have unquenchable passion to help alleviate societal problems using the media since it is a very powerful tool for development.
Women’s Commitment
Women are committed to duty and are good at what they do, therefore are expected to transcend obstacles of culture, education and poverty to take their rightful places in their countries’ economic and political sectors.
They are an important part of the development process and play an integral role in championing legal rights, leadership and advocating women’s increased access to education and other resources, women’s participation in socio-economic development, as well as highlighting issues of child and sexual abuse, negative cultural practices and general societal problems that affect the rights of people.
International Women’s Day
One reason cited by the United Nations General Assembly when adopting its resolution on the observance of International Women’s Day was “to recognize the fact that securing peace and social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms require the active participation, equality and development of women; and to acknowledge the contribution of women to the strengthening of international peace and security.”
Therefore, there is a need to celebrate women on this day as a platform to encourage more women to work hard in contributing to national development.
Women are confronted with several challenges at their workplaces, including working for long hours, sometimes deep into the night and at dawn, travelling to various parts of the country for stories as well as combining work and motherhood with very heavy work schedules.
Giant Women in Media
Despite these challenges, the women saw the need to be focused in life and continue to remain resolute and work assiduously in whatever environment they found themselves in to develop their potential for the benefit of society.
On this day, change agent media celebrates some giant women in the media as a Journalist, Presenter, Manager, Editor, Producer among others.
Oheneyere Gifty Anti is one of the key players in women empowerment, she is the host of the popular women’s television talk show: The Standpoint.
She is also a gender activist and women advocate. Gifty Anti started her media career as a Floor Manager with Ghana Television (GTV) after graduating from the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) in the 90’s.
In 2012, she was the only media person from GTV who won an award at the Radio and Television Personality (RTP) Award.
She was adjudged TV Morning Show host of the Year and Television Female Presenter of the Year 2012.
In 2013, she obtained an international award at the African Women in Leadership Organization Conference in Nigeria among several awards.
Ms Mabel Aku Baneseh, a senior staff of the Graphic Communications Group Limited, who emerged the winner of the coveted PAV Ansah Journalist of the Year Award in 2013. She has advocated for women on several media platforms and mentored several young ladies.
Ms Baneseh, a court reporter, whose dexterity and devotion in covering the 2012 Supreme Court election petition won her praise and also the Court/Crime Reporting and Political Reporting awards.
Ms Baneseh’s story headlined “Judgement Day” and “Ghana’s Democracy scores first” among other stories won her several awards. She has written over 10,000 stories to her credit.
Ms Baneseh is the fourth female to win the Journalist of the Year Award in Ghana.
Over the years, her passion to go into court reporting and mentoring is overwhelming. She is one of the few women who have worked so hard with high professionalism in promoting justice.
She is a married woman with children.
Ms Nana Ama Agyemang Asante, Deputy Online Editor at Citi FM and co-host of the “Citi Breakfast Show” (CBS), a highly popular, public-interest radio show broadcast daily on the Accra-based station Citi FM, one of Ghana’s top radio stations. With a solid background in human right activism and broadcast journalism, Nana Ama continuously remains a strong female voice, relentlessly advocating for the cause of women, children and the underprivileged. She has written a lot of articles to her credit.
She develops, writes and edits news stories and other content for www.citifmonline.com
She worked as a broadcast journalist at Joy FM before coming to Citi FM.
From 2011 to 2014, she served as the country’s coordinator for Journalists for Human Rights, a Canadian NGO promoting the coverage of human rights and governance stories across the African continent. In 2015, she was named Radio Personality of the Year by African entertainment network M24 for consistently speaking truth to power.
Ms. Regina Asamoah, Atinka FM’s Deputy Head of News and Current Affairs, who was nominated as a member of Ghana’s delegation to attend 62 Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN-CSW) at the United Nations Headquarters, New York in 2018 has contributed immensely to the media landscape.
As one of Atinka FM’s finest broadcast journalists, Ms Asamoah, in 2018 adjudged one of the best graduating students of the School of Graduate Studies and Research at the Ghana Institute of Journalism.
She emerged the best student in Master of Arts (MA) in Development Communication programme for the 2016/2017 academic year.
Ms. Asamoah works in Atinka FM’s News Department as Deputy Head of News and Executive Producer for some of the station’s programmes including ‘Obrempong Ahyasea’ and ‘Nana Mmo’ programme on Atinka Television.
She has over eight years’ rich experience in both broadcast and print journalism with specialty in gender and social issues.
Ms. Asamoah started her journalism profession in 2009 at the then Sena Radio in Ashaiman as an attachment student and subsequently retained as permanent staff in the News Department. Starting as a reporter and producer, she rose through the ranks to become the Acting Head of News due to her versatility, hard work and commitment.
Mrs Emelia Ennin Abbey, One outstanding woman who has never traded the honorable and special place of her husband as the head of her family irrespective of her unlimited accomplishments over the past years.
She is senior journalist at Daily Graphic, the Flagship Newspaper of Graphic Communication Group Limited who is loyal, hardworking and a lady with a lot of determination and a vision to be a world award winning journalist as she focuses mainly on crime and general issues.
Over the years, she wrote Business and Environmental stories when she worked with the Daily Guide/Business Guide newspapers, published by the privately owned Western Publications Limited in Accra.
In 2009, she was selected as one of 10 business journalists from developing countries for a poverty reduction programme at the Columbia University in New York.
In 2010, she was adjudged the Best Environmental Journalist of the year by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) which she is a member and had the same award in 2012- where she was also named winner of the Kwadwo Baah Weridu best report on business, economic/financial reporting.
She studied at the University of Ghana, for her first degree and has a diploma in Communication Studies from Ghana Institute of Journalism.
She is married with Children and has over 7,000 stories to her credit since she was employed at Daily Graphic.
Ms Nana Aba Anamoah, a multiple award-winning journalist who has given many young ladies the potential to dream and become all they want to be.
She is currently working at GHOne Television, a subsidiary of the Excellent In Brodcasting (EIB) Network.
Before then, she worked with TV3 Network as head of production and host of some shows including the ‘Diva Show’ and ‘Saturday Live Football’. She schooled at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
Nana Aba has been winning in the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and RTP Awards every year since 2010.
She is currently the reigning Radio and Television Personality of the year after bagging the ultimate award at the 2017 edition of the award scheme.
She has media a great tool for activism and information and has encouraged women to embrace their situation and make the best out of it.
She is journalist, feminist, mother, friend and mentor to a lot of people she encounters. She has shown the world especially Ghanaian women that it pays to be persistent.
Change Agent Media celebrates these great women for their hard work and encourage other women to work hard to achieve their dreams despite their numerous challenges.
We focus on encouraging women in the media so they take on more leadership roles in the media to change the agenda setting as they contribute to propel growth in the country.
Congratulations and Happy International Women’s day to all women !!!
