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‘Women news sources maginalised’

Local News
A REPORT by Gender and Media Connect (GMC) has exposed gender inequalities in media reportage where women news sources contribute only 19% of coverage compared to 77% for men.

BY LORRAINE MUROMO/OBERT SILAMANDU

A REPORT by Gender and Media Connect (GMC) has exposed gender inequalities in media reportage where women news sources contribute only 19% of coverage compared to 77% for men.

“Women voices in the media continue to be silenced.  One in every five news sources in the newsroom is a woman and this has been a cause of concern towards the empowerment of women in the sector,” GMC communications manager Tarisai Nyamwenda said at a virtual launch of the Zimbabwe Global Media Monitors Project report on gender inequality in the newsrooms.

“Women’s voices continue to be overshadowed by those of men in both the mainstream and alternative media platforms that were monitored. As a group, women accounted for 19% of the sources quoted as opposed to men’s 77%.”

The report was produced in partnership with FOJO-IMS and Media Monitors.

The report also noted that male journalists outnumbered their female counterparts in the newsroom, with a ratio of 4:1.

Meanwhile, women in informal trade have bemoaned lack of gender sensitivity in the sector.

This was revealed on Friday at the virtual launch of the informal women’s hub by Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation.

The hub seeks to develop an inclusive gender policy for the informal economy, which will include eradication of gender-based violence in the informal economy, as well as tackling gendered corruption.

Women are said to constitute 67% of the people working in the informal economy in Zimbabwe and Viset deputy chairperson Rosemary Mudzamiri urged government to ensure a proper working environment for women in the informal market.

Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development executive director Janet Zhou said: “Most of the time women in the informal sector are either forced or they offer sex voluntarily to space barons so as to survive under the circumstances they find themselves in while working in the informal sector.”

Economic Justice for Women project executive director Margaret Mutsamvi said: “Apart from the city council and State security agents, customers also tend to take advantage of women by negotiating lower prices for their products.”

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