The African Women in Media (AWiM) will be holding a virtual conference under the theme The Future of Media in Africa: Building Resilience in a COVID19 World on 2-3 November this year.
Announcing the holding of the conference, AWiM co-founder and CEO, Dr. Yemisi Akinbobola said Covid-19 had “no doubt changed media industries”.
“Our research into the impact of COVID-19 on East African women journalists found that a staggering 63% of respondents said their jobs had been affected during the pandemic. 52% of respondents were placed on unpaid leave. The industry also saw many organisational casualties, with some newsrooms shutting down completely. Alongside these impacts were changes in how we work and gather news. Sexual harassment also increased on the digital platforms which respondents were now using to engage with colleagues,” said Dr Akinbobola.
She said the above factors had informed the theme for AWiM21 with a view to taking a look forward into the future of media in Africa in a COVID-19 world. The conference will “specifically seek to identify new practices and solutions that academia, media organisations, practitioners, and policy actors might employ”.
Dr Akinbobola has invited papers from scholars who should reflect on their research and experiences during the pandemic “as the starting point to consider the longer-term impacts on the industry”. A selection of papers that will be presented at the conference will be published in special issues of international peer-reviewed journals or as part of an edited book, she said.
She said the presentations should engage critically with the notion of building back better in the context of the intersection of media and women’s rights and empowerment. The looming question, she said, was what did the pandemic reveal about the true status of women’s rights and gender equality in Africa and the media?
The submission deadline is 1 September 2021.
For more information click CFP: African Women in Media 2021 Conference – African Women in Media