Still many rivers to cross for female media practitioners
A lot has happened. In fact, a lot has changed since the late Columbian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez penned his article in 2014 about journalism being the best job in world.
BEFORE gaining worldwide acclaim for novels including “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “Love in the Time of Cholera”, Marquez was a journalist for a newspaper in Colombia and Venezuela. In the article in the Index on Censorship magazine, Marquez shared his love for the profession and the fact that 50 years ago there were no journalism schools. One learnt the trade in the newsroom, in the print shops, in the local café and in Friday-night hangouts.
Reminiscing on the old-times, Marquez says, “the newspaper was a factory where journalists were made and the news was printed without quibbles. We journalists always hung together, we had a life in common and were so passionate about our work that we didn’t talk about anything else”.
Indeed, journalism is both enriching and challenging. The idea of ferreting for truth and sharing it with multitudes of readers and audiences always sends some kind of exhilaration even to the most senior journalists. And one couldn’t agree more with Marquez when in a 1986 speech to the Inter-American Press Association he said;
“Journalism is an unappeasable passion that can be assimilated and humanised only through stark confrontation with reality.”
However, although Marques wasn’t explicit on the gender dynamics within the journalism profession, one gets the sense that back then, journalism was male dominated probably due the rigours associated with obtaining news.
Over the years, the allure of journalism has drawn more women into it with some of the newsrooms being headed by very competent female journalists.
In the case of Zimbabwe, the ratio of female and male journalists has somewhat evened. But female journalists always face unique challenges in news gathering compared with their male counterparts.
Zimbabwe has made great strides in providing through the constitution, a strong legal framework for the promotion and attainment of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Despite the legal commitment, a 2014 Zimbabwe Country Analysis Report indicates that women and girls continue to face countless challenges in the political, social and economic spheres as a consequence of gender inequalities and imbalances.
Four years after the report’s release, veteran female journalists concur that the working environment has improved yet more still needs to be done to improve the situation to make it possible for female journalists to flourish.
The Herald managing editor Victoria Ruzvidzo said newsrooms should create a conducive working environment for female journalists.
“There is need for a total mindset shift for media owners to view females journalists as a rich resource from which organisations can benefit immensely. We need to see more women rising to these places that have largely been a preserve for men.
“However, I must hasten to say that the environment is softening so much, for instance Zimpapers has drafted a gender policy to ensure that women get more opportunities. In The Herald newsroom, for instance, a number of desk editors are women. And the bosses right from the chief executive officer are keen to see more women make it in our organisation. This has made a difference and we still hope for more,” she said.
Ruzvidzo said female journalists ought to work hard in order to be competitive.
“It is important for women to get educated, to research, get digital training and upgrade themselves so that they become competitive in the newsrooms. It’s not always about affirmative action but it’s about who can deliver in the newsrooms,” she said.
The growth of women in the newsroom is largely hindered by their inability to support each other.
“Women are their own worst enemies sometimes; they pull each other down in the newsrooms. They can even gang up with men to fight against another woman. This has compromised their growth,” said Ruzvidzo.
For women in journalism to excel, Ruzvidzo said, there is need for senior journalists to mentor young female journalists.
“Mentorship is very important — seniors in the newsroom should educate the younger ones, hold their hands and share experiences on how they have managed to overcome the challengers in the newsroom. Mentorship gives support for some who may want to quit but once they share experiences and someone urges them on they can fight. Mentorship creates a bigger muscle to lean on.
“Also, newsrooms need to become women-friendly, they need not be intimidating. Women are equally capable and in most cases do better than men. So, they should get space to create a richer newsroom. Media houses also need to up the implementation of gender policies that are friendly towards everyone and women in particular to close the gap that currently exists,” she added.
Faith Zaba, the deputy editor of the Zimbabwe Independent and a journalist for 26 years, said female journalists should claim their space in the newsroom and speak against discrimination.
“In most cases female journalists are given ‘soft beats’. They are required to cover humanitarian stories, entertainment and lifestyle. You find that most female journalists who are given these beats find it difficult to cover other areas. This is not because they are not capable of covering other areas but they are made to believe the soft beats are what they are capable of covering.
“Yes, we have female journalists covering political stories but the numbers do not match those of male journalists who cover that sector. In most cases, one has to fight to cover other beats such as politics. If you do not speak up you are shielded in the humanitarian beats,” said Zaba.
She said female journalists are capable of delivering just as much as their male counterparts.
“We have female journalists in management positions now; this is a huge transition from yesteryears when newsroom management was dominated by males. Female journalists have proved their capacity to work just as much as their male counterparts. However, we find that most of these promotions are to be leaders in the ‘soft beats’. There is need to totally accept women’s abilities and offer them more leadership positions,” she said.
The greatest stereotype in the newsroom, Zaba said, is how climbing the ladder to management position in the media landscape is usually seen as a result of offering sexual favours to men.
“I joined journalism about 26 years ago and it was hard for most female journalists to rise to management positions without people assuming they had sexual relations with influential people. This mind-set killed any desire by female journalists to work hard to get to management positions without offering sexual favours to men,” she said.
Former Financial Gazette editor and National University of Science and Technology Journalism and Media Studies Lecturer Nqobile Nyathi said there was need for female journalists to adopt a positive mind-set when conducting their duties.
“Being a woman did not stop me from doing my work. I was expected to work as hard as the male journalists and I believed that I could do any assignment given to me. This is the mind-set that most female journalists need to adopt in order to excel in the newsroom setup,” she said.
Another veteran journalist, AB Communications chief executive officer Susan Makore said the major challenge faced by female journalists was balancing their multiples roles as women.
“Similar to women in other professions, we find that female journalists have to balance work and their other roles as mothers. When they go for maternity leave, they are left behind, they find their male counterparts promoted and have to catch up,” she said.
Research has shown that women often earn lower pay than men despite having identical professional qualifications and credentials.
Female journalists also face great challenges outside the newsrooms when gathering stories.
Freelance journalist Anna Chibamu was allegedly harassed by MDC-T youths on March 1 at Harvest House during a press conference called by the party’s president, Nelson Chamisa.
Government has condemned violence, especially violence against women. Measures have been put in place to reduce gender-based violence.
A report conducted for United Nations Women in 2014 by Wellington Radu and Yolanda Chekera tilted “Power, Patriarchy and Gender Discrimination in Zimbabwean Newsrooms” states that reducing gender discrimination in newsrooms requires a multi-pronged approach.
“Much of the gender discrimination that occurs stems from the fact that the practice is a societal and cultural problem that then filters into newsrooms, and is then recreated and deepened within many of them. There is therefore, a need to bring about societal and cultural shifts in gender relations and hopefully in the long-run the gains from such efforts will filter into newsrooms.
“One of the ways that gender discrimination can and needs to be combated at societal level is through the creation and implementation of legislation that ensures discrimination is being recorded and dealt with. It is therefore crucial to establish the existence of legislation on gender discrimination as gender discrimination policies will be more effective if they are in line with and have the backing the law,” reads the report.
The vast experiences they have from their multiple roles must not hinder their professional development in the journalism industry; rather they must be used to becoming better, different and competitive reporters.