“I have had uncomfortable cases of some bosses touching me, forcing me to hug them, but I tell them off, and I distance myself from them”
“Some men touch your behind as you pass-by and make funny comments about your weight. One kissed my neck as a greeting while colleagues cheered and clapped. I am a supervisor. I warned the gentleman, but reporting him could have meant losing his job, so I let it go”
“Sexual harassment is becoming a tired topic. Challenges in the newsroom today are; low salaries, access to technology, trainings, education and a descent work place”
Those are some of the female journalists’ voices on the cancer that is eating them up in the newsrooms and forcing many out of practicing journalism to other fields where they feel safer.
A recent report on sexual harassment produced by WAN IFRA/Women in news, states that almost 80% of the female journalists in the African Newsrooms have undergone either verbal or physical sexual harassment.
According to a survey made in eight African countries, Uganda is ranked 5th with an average prevalence of almost 60% female journalists sexually abused in their newsrooms.
“Verbal sexual harassment where women are bullied because of their body shape, happens frequently compared to the physical one,” the report reads in part.
It was noted that most women in the newsrooms are dying silently because of fear, that may involve losing their jobs especially in circumstances where the perpetrators are their supervisors.
“Others have no hope of getting listened to, in their media organisations, and those that may have the ability to speak out, in most cases have no clear evidence to support them, while a few don’t take sexual harassment as a big deal to an extent of even accepting gifts from the perpetrators as a way of silencing them,” the report further revealed.
Carolyn Nakazibwe, the Women In News (WIN) Uganda Chapter Coordinator says, most female journalists are sexually abused by their immediate supervisors who are their male editors, followed by managers and media house owners.
Uganda’s Employment Sexual Harassment Regulations states that, an employer with more than twenty-five employees shall adopt a written policy against sexual harassment which includes a notice to employees that sexual harassment is unlawful; a statement of consequences for employees who are found to have committed sexual harassment; plus education and training programs on sexual harassment for all employees on a regular basis.
The policy also requires the employer to create a sexual harassment committee that receives and registers complaints of sexual harassment which are then, investigated by the labour officer.
The online survey by WIN, indicates that In Uganda, 30.9% of the male journalists also suffer Sexual harassment. The same findings indicate that only 40% of both male and female journalists know about the sexual harassment policy; 38.2% aren’t aware of what exactly it is, while only 21.8% have full knowledge of the policy.
Barbara Kaija an Editor in Chief at the New Vision, also a WIN executive member, says the policy had to be revised New Vision for effectiveness.
“As a result of this training our Human Resource manager revised the sexual harassment policy to include a more detailed definition of sexual harassment, because sometimes people do things and actually don’t know that it is sexual harassment,” Kaija remarked.
She added that in 2022, some sexual harassment cases were handled at the media company, which resulted into expulsion of some staff. The female boss lauded WIN for the Accelerator program that is empowering the media industry especially the women.
Jane Godia the Executive Director WIN Africa, says there’s need for countries in Africa to work on policies that encourage equality, not only in the political spheres but also in the media circles.
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