Activists want media visibility of female politicians strengthened

The Network of Women in Politics (NOWIP) in partnership with Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA) have called upon government, media owners and other stakeholders to strengthen presence of women participation in media and political space.

They voiced these concerns during an interactive media dialogue with journalists and women politicians at Kampala’s Hotel Africana on Wednesday.

Lilian Babirye, executive director NOWIP, said dialogue between women in politics and those in media is very important to realize equal representation of men and women in the political and media space.

She said the role of NOWIP is to encourage Ugandan women participation in politics.

"Many times, women want men to dream for them on what to do, but we have to dream for ourselves," she said amidst applause from women activists present.

Dr Emilly Maracho, UMWA's vice chairperson, said women see media as a double edged sword because some media houses portray parliamentary women as indecent by reporting on their dressing as “sexy”, while other media houses give limited voices to women participation on radio or television talk shows.

“These types of stereotypes in media reporting should be discouraged," she said.

Busiro East parliamentary aspirant, Hamida Nnalongo, said women participation in politics can create socio- economic transformation in the shortest time possible.

"We are given limited space in media and politics yet we are your mothers," she said.

She called upon the media owners to desist from concentrating on targeting prominent women politicians for talk shows but encourage women from all walks of life to have their voices heard.