Women Meeting the Challenge: A Handbook for Media Leadership
Creating Visibility

An important key to moving ahead is creating a positive image about yourself and sense of excellence at what you do. Said Arothe-Vaughan: "There is no point having an idea for a story and allowing somebody else to hijack that idea. You have to have ownership of your own ideas." Spend time knocking on office doors in your organisation and getting people to know you and recognise you. Make yourself available to talk about your areas of expertise. Offer to mentor younger colleagues.

But, adds Arothe-Vaughan, "If you claim your right to be visible…you need to be aware of what the repercussions might be and then put your own strategies in place. There are people who are not going to like to see you being visible because they would like to be more visible than you."

Visibility: How to Become More Positively Visible

Let your colleagues and supervisors know about your successes and your accomplishments. Share copies of reports you have contributed to and successful articles you have written. Let people know about the ideas you think are important to the future of the organisation and the community. Building visibility is a common career strategy for men, yet women shy away from self-promotion. If you don't toot your own horn, no one else will do it for you.

Elizabeth Akua Ohene, a Ghanian national and deputy editor for BBC gave this advice: "Sometimes being a token achieves far more than you can achieve being a member of a big representative body…But make sure if you are a token, you are an impressive token."