The 3Music Network, organisers of the 3Music Awards, has emphasised their commitment to gender parity.

Cyril-Alex Gockel, the lead executive of the newly announced Brands & Marketing office at the renowned entertainment outfit, spoke exclusively to Prince Benjamin (PB) on the Class Morning Show, Friday, August 9, 2024.

When he was asked why awarding women was prominent at the awards’ scheme, he instinctively saluted the 3Music Network CEO, Rashidatu Yasmine Abdulai.

Female feats

“A lot of people don't know this but even the Black Queens went to the [FIFA] Women's World Cup [1991] before the Blacks Stars [2006]. And Yaa Asantewaa is still our most decorated legacy warrior, historically. And the flag, I believe, was designed by a woman,” he added.

Celebrating women

Popularly called C-Real, the multimedia and music star said: “Women have played a pivotal role in Ghana period.

“But due to whether it's our cultural nature, it's our social nature, we kind of, let’s be honest to ourselves, we kind of put our ladies, our mothers, sisters, and our wives on the back bench. But at 3Music, we realised that women have a pivotal role in our music landscape as well. Some of the biggest songs we've had, some of the best jams were created by our sisters and they've not always had the best celebration. They've not always had the best support.”

Challenging sex-sells status quo

“And we all know the difficulty in managing a female artist or being a female artist and getting the right management or the right representation. Even across media, the image of sexuality seems to be the only ace up sleeves. You either go that route or your music is buried,” the founder of Pulse Communications bemoaned.

Merit-led women empowerment

“But 3Music Network is an institution that wants to spotlight the other non-trivial aspects of our women creators because they are as good as anybody else. Some are even better. But because of whatever flaw in our thinking that has preceded all these years, we've not given them the necessary spotlight.

“And we have put our foot down that we are not going to have a gender-biased institution period. Forget about the 3Music awards. As an institution, we are not going to do that thing where a woman sits here and a man sits here. Everything is merit-based,”

For the 3Music Awards, C-Real concluded: “Everything is based on how good you are at what you say you do. And if you excel and exceed the expectation, you will gain this reward.”

| Cyril-Alex Gockel hosts the Culture Daily morning TV show on 3Music TV

The sixth edition of the 3Music Awards failed to come off last year. True to their assurances the awards show would come off in 2024, communicated via a July 2023 statement, the 3Music Network announced on July 25, 2024, it was making a comeback in September.

Speaking at the presser, Madam Rashidatu Yasmine Abdulai said the 3Music Awards had been "reimagined" with "fresh elements," ready to define "new industry standards" to "captivate the audience and honour the artistes who inspire us".

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