Women Meeting the Challenge: A Handbook for Media Leadership
Conclusion

As an information-driven industry, the news business holds a great deal of potential for women to rise into leadership positions. It is a business that is conducive to a team-approach, constantly in need of new ideas, and an arena in which one with good communication skills can excel. For many women, such skills come naturally.

By taking charge of the direction of their careers, practising assertiveness and challenging stereotypes, women can achieve positions of leadership. Each time a woman succeeds in breaking through to the upper levels of management, she has the opportunity to act as a role model for other women, to undermine the negative attitudes that keep women marginalised, and to change the policies and work environments that disregard women.

Akwe Amosu, a journalist from Nigeria who now works for the BBC says, "Its really important that we aim high and keep hammering away at the glass ceiling to try and get into positions where we can influence staff management policies - that's where the prejudice really works against women."

It won't be easy. The obstacles women face in being accepted as capable professionals and in moving into leadership positions are considerable. This was emphasized in the African and Beijing Platforms for Action. When women attain leadership positions in the media, they in turn have the opportunity to promote women's issues and advocate on behalf of women's leadership roles.

Change will not occur without hard work. It is only through a concerted effort, both individually and as part of a group, that women will begin to take their place as partners within the news media. By using resources, like this handbook, women will begin to understand their own leadership potential, learn how to showcase their talents and begin rising to newer and greater heights.

In speaking about the goals behind CSLI, Carole Simpson brought the role of women in the media into a broader context. She said, "We launched this institute with the knowledge that we are not the weaker sex, the second sex. We are society's most important asset, and we will not be relegated to any second class status. Our work with leadership development is about equality of opportunity, and boosting women to the high levels they deserve, aspire to, and can achieve. Not just the media, but the world will be better for that."