Throughout my time at Today, I’ve struggled at points with finding work to do. This is normal in an internship, but at times frustrating. In the beginning they told me they wanted to publish things I’d written and I was really excited. I told them from the start that I wanted to go out on assignment, and I hoped I could be reporting on events regularly and getting to know how different aspects of Ghanaian culture function. While I have reported on events and have really enjoyed it, I’ve also been tasked with coming up with my own stories and opinion pieces. This freedom can be daunting, but so far I think I’ve done a good job coming up with topics and talking to people.
What I’ve noticed is that, while I’ve written various articles for them, they’ve only published three and often don’t say anything when they don’t publish something I’ve written; I just never see it in the paper. When going over what they haven’t published, I’ve come to the conclusion that anything potentially controversial seems off limits. Today, and the GN Media Group, are all owned by Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, the PPP’s (Progressive People’s Party) aspiring candidate for president. Based on what I’ve experienced while being here, Today’s bias favors the PPP and publishes articles that cater to people with similar views. Publishing something that members of the party don’t agree with can have consequences. Today holds an annual lecture series in August and has been looking for speakers. One of the speakers pulled out of the event and refused to even speak with Today’s editors after they ran a front page article the speaker apparently didn’t agree with.
I can see why they avoid the controversial articles or only publish to cater to their audience, but it can be hard when you’re spending time writing articles, sending them to the editor, and never seeing them again. But the way I see it, this is good experience for jobs in the future. Not everything you write will be published, and that just means it’s important to write a lot, and write well.
Here is one of the unpublished articles I’ve written for Today:
Ghana’s Wage Gap and the Informal Sector
Story: Emily SCARVIE, Intern, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, USA
The gender pay gap is a worldwide issue. While the reasons for the gap may vary place to place, there isn’t a single country where women of all age groups outperform and outnumber men in terms of their earned outcomes. Women in many countries have hourly wages below their male counterparts, with the difference in income ranging from 10-40 percent, despite working longer hours. According to a report by the UN in 2015, women around the world earn an average of 24% less than men.
This issue happens for a variety of reasons. It can be due to wage discrimination, level of jobs, and varying degrees of education and experience that women receive as opposed to men. This connects to the culture surrounding women and education. Traditionally, women would only go to school through a certain point, and end their schooling early to get married and have children. The idea was that they didn’t need to be educated if their role was to take care of the children. However, when women go back to work, having a lower level of education can be one of the factors contributing to a lesser salary. This isn’t always the case; women are also paid less because of workplace discrimination on the basis of gender. Wage discrimination is when individuals with the same education and working experience perform similar jobs, but are paid differently. No matter what the reason is, the gap exists in almost all professions.
In Ghana, this is due in part to the way in which the labor market is set up. In terms of women 15-years-old or older, 87% are active in the labor market. In the market as a whole, the informal sector accounts for 91% of total employments. 74% of working women are working in the informal sector. The informal sector includes street vendors, farmers, fishermen, traders, food processors, artisans, and craft workers. The wages of these workers are very low, often times less than minimum wage. More than half of them are self-employed. This causes a difference in pay between the informal and formal sector, and between men and women as well, seeing as the majority of women are involved in the informal sector. Informal work can be associated with lack of benefits as well, including no social security, medical benefits, or time off. It can also mean longer hours and other associated risks. For example, street vendors face higher risks of car accidents. Despite the risks and lack of benefits, many people join the informal work sector to provide for their families.
According to the World Economic Forum, it is estimated that it will take 170 years to close the gender pay gap around the world. In order to help this happen, it’s important to keep girls in school and address inequalities in all sectors of employment. Educated women are major contributors to improved economic outcomes and can positively influence the future of their families. Equal pay and equal opportunities help women contribute to their community and country, and benefit everyone in the long-run.