FESOJ holds Men4Women Marching in Mogadishu

More than one hundred and fifty male journalists marched in Mogadishu on Thursday as part of the Men4women movement during International Women Day to celebrate women and show solidarity with their female colleagues in media

The marching men carried placards and pamphlets with slogans encouraging women to stand up tall with help and support from men.

Men4Women is an international movement of media organizations that highlights the importance of gender equality in and throughout the media.

Women media professionals in Somalia often encounter gender isolations and indeed there is still great inequality between men and women in the media, they don’t hold senior management positions, therefore it is so important to demonstrate a realistic approach to raise awareness that women should have equal rights and opportunities and that is why National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) organized the Men 4 Women event with the support of Free press Unlimited.

Director of the Office of Public Affairs Office, Maryan Amin, who
spoke to participants, said she was very happy to see men in the
media showing support to their female colleagues and that it was very encouraging to see men come out in support of their mothers, sisters and wives.

Sheikh Ali Ibrahim Suleyman, a former member of the Somali Association of Trade Unions and retired activist said Somali women have served with distinction over the years.

“Talking about rights of Somali girls begun a long time ago, especially during the former
military government and women had started to fill all government
departments but always there were challenges faced by women, so this event is so significant and we all appreciate the potential and capacity of our female colleagues” Shiikh Ali Ibrahim said.