Invitation to the gender forum, Thursday 25th October 2007 at the Nairobi safari club (Lillian towers) from 4pm – 6pm

We wish to take this opportunity to sincerely thank those of you who took part in the last forum on “Electoral Gender Based Violence (EGBV): Defining mitagative measures”. For those who were not able to make it for one reason or another, we believe that you will be able to participate in this next Forum.

We would like to invite you to our next Gender Forum which will be held on Thursday 25th October 2007 at Nairobi Safari Club (Lilian Towers) from 4 pm to 6pm.

In continuation of our theme of discussion this year which focuses on enhancing women’s political participation in the forthcoming general elections 2007, our topic of discussion this month is titled: “Are Women Politicians engaging a ‘Malestream’ Media? Assessing media coverage of women candidates and gender issues in this election year”. Our session this month shall constitute a panel of print and electronic media representatives, and shall be moderated by Rosemary Okello of the African Woman and Child Feature Services. The public shall engage the media on the situation of coverage of women candidates, which shall involve a public perception analysis of the media’s coverage of the current women candidates while the media shall give tips on how women candidates can package themselves into newsmakers.

Some of the questions we wish to tackle are:

• Does gender influence the ways in which women candidates and issues are reported on?
• What has been the trend of reporting on women candidates and issues? What are the reasons for such trends?
• What are the strategies that women candidates need to employ to engage more effectively with the media?

We expect that the day’s forum will be enriching for all members and participants alike. We strongly urge you to attend, bring a friend, and contribute to the debate.

ENTRANCE IS FREE. Kindly contact the undersigned on nairobi@hbfha.com or wakogi@hbfha.com for any further clarifications.

Thank you.

Wanjiku Wakogi

Regional Gender Programme Coordinator