As media veterans, experts, and students gathered to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Report Women! An initiative of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), it was evident to everyone that the organisation’s toils, passion, and excellence over the years have yielded excellent results.
The celebration was marked in grand style at the Metropolitan Club, Victoria Island Lagos, on October 3rd, 2024.
The Report Women programme, which dates back to Thursday, August 7th, 2014, with a stakeholders meeting in collaboration with the Royal Netherland Embassy, has grown to become a major force in the Nigerian media, championing change, empowering leaders, and influencing public policies.
It was indeed not just a celebration, but the beginning of a new phase as the Expert Source Guide, a female expert source guide website was launched.
The resource tool, according to the Chief Executive Officer of WSCIJ, Motunrayo Alaka was created to address the underrepresentation of women as expert sources in the Nigerian media.
She said findings from WSCIJ’s 2024 report titled ‘Who leads the newsrooms and news?’ revealed that men dominate as expert sources in the media with 87per cent, while women make up only 12 per cent,
According to Alaka, the source guide currently features over 500 female experts across various fields, including agriculture, business, education, health, science, law, media, politics, and security. The plan is to grow it to 3000.
The Chairman of the event, former Governor of Ogun State, and veteran journalist, Chief Olusegun Osoba acknowledged the necessity of women in reportage and representation in the media.
” For too long, we have overlooked the voices and leadership of women. We cannot tell the story of our nation, nor can we fight the battles of injustice and corruption if we silence half of our population, Osoba stated.
During the panel session, Vice President (West) of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) Kabir Alabi, who represented the President of NGE, spoke on the future of women’s leadership in the newsroom,
According to him, in the next six years, leadership in The Guardian where he is Weekend Editor, will be taken over by women as 80 per cent of the new intakes in the Guardian are women.
Impacts of Report Women over the past 10 years
86 fellows inductee into the Female Reporters Leadership Programme ( FLRP) fellowship
536 Reporters trained across Nigeria and Ghana
2930 direct beneficiaries impacted through story and leadership projects by FRLP fellows
17 female reporters were awarded for exceptional story and leadership projects
138 Leadership projects centred on women and girls’ empowerment implemented
5 investigative stories which tracked select cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Nigeria were produced.
6 documentaries produced the untold stories of girls and women in Nigeria, and 5 others, one per cohort of the FLRP fellowship
500 Female expert sources collated across eight sectors for the Report Women! Expert source guide.
136 Stories focused on women and girls’ issues produced
7 media monitoring and surveys were conducted on the trends in the reportage of issues affecting women and girls, the status of leadership between men and women in the newsroom, and gender policy and practice in Nigerian newsrooms.
