Lagos NAWOJ, Wikimedia Organise Symposium To Commemorate International Women’s Day

The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, NAWOJ, Lagos State Chapter, and Wikimedia Nigeria recently organized a symposium to celebrate International Women’s Day by bringing together inspiring voices to discuss women’s visibility and representation.

Speaking at the event, the president, Wikimedia Nigeria, Mr. Olaniyan Olushola, said the purpose of commemorating International Women’s Day is to bring forward the voice of the underrepresented women so that others can listen and understand their stories by putting it in form of a journal.

He said: “The organization which started in 2018 has the focus on promoting the visibility of Nigerian women through strategic content creation, writing accurate stories about Nigerian women, identifying those women who have distinguished themselves in their chosen careers, and ensuring that the world is gifted to read their from grass to grace stories”.

Senior Special Assistant on Establishments and Training to the Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Atanda, said: “It is pertinent to ensure economic inclusion and financial equity for women to be able to showcase their endowment and play a vital role in the society“.

Speaking further, Mrs. Atanda urged women to always aim to be the best in whatever they do, saying merit comes first and they need to equip themselves with 21st-century skills to function well and support other women to grow in their chosen endeavours also.

Also, the programme director of Wikimedia Nigeria, Ayokanmi Oyeyemi, said: “The essence of the gathering is to break gender stereotypes on Wikipedia and create an avenue for women to tell their inspiring stories“.

He said, “As an organisation that owns Wikipedia, the last statistics showed about twenty percent of women were represented on Wikipedia.”  “The programme is to raise more awareness for women to understand the need to be on Wikipedia and provide their stories to inspire more women”.

He further said the gathering with journalists, stakeholders, and women’s organizations provides an opportunity for influential women to speak on the need to get represented in the scheme of things as they play an important role in the development of the nation.

Speaking on the role of media in reshaping narratives about women, the Chairperson of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, (NAWOJ) Lagos State chapter, Dr. Adeola Ekine, said the association has taken it upon itself to lead a campaign against odds against women, which includes exclusive breastfeeding, a campaign against sexual and domestic violence, sensitization against cholera and infectious diseases.

Dr. Adeola Ekine, ably represented by Olawunmi Shittu, said: “NAWOJ has trained members during the COVID-19 on how to be independent by organizing virtual workshops on handcraft.

NAWOJ is also training new entrants into the profession about the ethics of the profession, hinting that the welfare of members is taken seriously. Members were also educated on how to make use of digital space to maximize the available potential“.

She added: “Some of our members benefited from the two days training on how to fill in the gap on Wikipedia by including the stories of prominent women, both the formally educated ones and their unlettered counterparts who are doing excellently in their fields how to tell their story“.