Gender imbalances in the media need to be addressed

The media should address the gender imbalances in news coverage and in the newsroom to draw a larger audience of women, urge activists. Fewer women were used as sources in news stories because men shaped decisions on coverage in most media organisations, according to a survey of 76 countries, including 13 in Southern African, conducted by various NGOs participating in the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP). In Southern Africa, 19 percent of sources cited in news reports were women, against a global average of 21 percent, the study observed. In Africa, Rwanda was a top performer with 29 percent, while Angola tailed the regional and global list with just 13 percent. Women needed to be informed because they constituted almost half the population in Southern Africa and were largely responsible for decisions regarding education, health and general consumer spending in most households, noted Colleen Lowe Morna, executive director of the NGO, Gender Links, and chair of the Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Network. Media companies, constantly seeking to reach out to a larger audience, needed to be aware of the extent to which women influenced their families' spending patterns, said Morna. "Recent surveys have shown that 70 percent of decisions related to consumer-spending in a household are taken by women - so even the media's advertising has to be geared around that." Almost 70 percent of Southern African women would find news more accessible if their ideas and views were reported more often, according to a study conducted by GEMSA and its partner NGOs, while the GMMP survey revealed that women reporters were often more likely to source information and views from other women. However, GEMSA found that women comprised only 31 percent of reporters in Southern African newsrooms. "We need to address that imbalance," noted Morna. "It is ironic that the media, which should be at the forefront of setting the agenda for social change, has been among the most resistant to such change." GEMSA has initiated gender awareness training and engaged media organisations on making newsrooms more representative, but rather than focusing on advocacy efforts to remedy gender deficiencies in the media, the issue should be incorporated in a broader debate on human rights, media diversity, ethics and professionalism in the media.