Addressing participants at the International World Press Freedom Day: Candid Talk organised by the US Embassy, representatives of women’s organisations called for increased visibility and participation of women in contributing to the news.
Virginia Muwanigwa, the director of the Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre and Women’s Coalition Chairperson, said it was important for women across all sectors to be forthcoming as news sources to ensure a balance in the media. “Women should accept that bad publicity is still publicity,” she said. “Either way, it puts you in the limelight and sometimes the media does not want to be continuously struggling to get you as news sources. Women should be forthcoming and they should not shy away from the media.”
Muwanigwa said the media should be gender sensitive and ensure that they give the gender dimension to all the stories that they cover.
“Gender issues are not women’s issues because they are issues that affect both men and women. It is important for media practitioners to be professional in their conduct to avoid a scenario where women fear to become news sources,” she said.
Engage
Kholiwe Nyoni-Majama, programme officer with the Media Information Southern Africa Zimbabwe, urged women to use social media to champion and leverage the gender agenda.
“There is no engagement on the new social media by women’s organisations. We have very few women speaking on the socio, economic and political issues in our country – but the opportunities are there on Facebook, twitter and a host of other platforms.”
She said there was no justification for women shying away from the media. “It is very difficult to get female voices because women are not willing to give their views to the media. It could be that they fear to engage the media. Women’s organisations should be media savvy,” she said.
“There are instances when there is a lot of bureaucracy especially with women’s organisations where the comment can only be given by the director,” said Majama. “There is need for women’s organisations to organise themselves and ensure that they have a collective response that can be given by anyone in the organisation.”
The International Women’s Media Foundation’s Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media reported that a free flow of information was an essential ingredient of open and democratic societies.
“There can be no full freedom of the press until women have an equal voice in the news-gathering and news dissemination processes,” said the report. Susan Makore, director of ZiFM, called for women across the political divide to voice their concerns through the media and ensure they were forthcoming when contacted by media personnel.
Harness the power
“We have roles as mothers, aunts, sisters and wives, but that should not be the excuse to use whenever we are contacted to contribute to the news,” said Makore. “It is important for women to strike a balance between their personal and professional lives and take part in formulating news. Women are afraid to be in the news and in the limelight. They do not want to be quoted,” she said.
Tendai Garwe, the Media, Communications and Advocacy officer of the Women’s Trust, believes that women have not harnessed the power that they have to their advantage.
“We have room through the new social media to push our agenda. The way we are presented paints a bad picture and it reinforces gender stereotypes. There is need for continued engagement between the media and CSOs as a means of ensuring women’s voices are given space in the media,” she said.
The 2010-2011 ZDHS revealed that the exposure of women to the mainstream media remained low, with only eight percent of the female respondents and 17 percent of the male respondents having exposure to newspapers, television and radio at least once a week.
“Gender equality and women’s empowerment are slowly becoming issues in the media, but women’s access to freedom of expression in and through the media remains low. Gender and media activism in Zimbabwe remains weak,” says the Gender Links SADC Barometer.
Post published in: News