RX Radio presenter Daniel Omara has argued that women shouldn’t just be chosen to feature on political talk shows just because they are women but rather for how relevant their contribution is to the topics of discussion.
This was during The Fatboy Show where Daniel and his co-host Olive Najjuma debated the statement made by the Executive Director of UNAIDS Winnie Byanyima who criticized NBS Television for only hosting males on its popular ‘Front Line’ show which she said denied women to a chance to discuss issues of national importance.
In a dispute she took to Twitter named ‘#NoMoreManels,’ the wife of Dr.Kizza Besigye tweeted: “Listen @nbstv, such all-male panels should be a thing of the past. You are excluding Ugandan women from political debates, perpetuating a stereotype that men are ‘superior’ politicians to women, & denying your viewers diverse perspectives. Commit to #NoMoreManels please.”
Daniel, who disagreed with these claims, said , “There’s no problem having a balanced panel, but the question is how many women are prominent enough to be hosted on a show that will gather viewership? There has been a monotony to these particular guests because the ratings have been built by them.”
He added that Byanyima was being selective and merely wanted to quarrel because the panel always hosts female guests but she decided to pick this particular one to argue about.
On the contrary, Olive said that although women have been featured on this particular show, they have been hosted occasionally yet there are women such as the Army Spokesperson Flavia Byekwaso but also other women working in the security agencies that could be oftenly hosted
She seconded Daniel’s view that women shouldn’t be hosted on talk shows simply to ensure gender inclusivity but in consideration of the topic and its relevance to the guest speakers.
Additionally she said “Also as a woman, there are parts of feminism we should take and leave because previously Byanyima was against women kneeling for men yet in some cultures it is tradition. Feminism should not take away what makes us African because as a Muganda woman there are situations that will call for actions such as kneeling because it's tradition and that is how I was raised.”
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, Sarah and Lesham every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.