The six African Women in Media Conference welcomed media professionals from different countries to discuss the issue of policies and regulations towards gender equality in media. It also touched on how women are portrayed in the media and how the issues relate to women and girls in Fez, Morocco which was the destination of this year’s conference.

From various findings, women are affected by the issue of gender-based violence and sexual harassment in the media.

AWiM researcher, Kanengrwang Pam explained how the issue of gender-based violence in the state of reporting violence against women and girls remains one of the most persistent barriers to gender equality while VAWG is recognised as a fundamental barrier in the violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women.

“Gender-sensitive reporting needs to represent women directly to the media,” she said.

“I am a survivor of the discrimination of women in media. We need media to be more proactive and I believe with passion we will begin to change,” she said.

Focus

Day one of the conference also featured a panel that highlighted the positive impact of reporting issues of GBV. It can have people in society and those in media included, to understand the lived experience of women in media.

Amanda Dory, a moderator said: “Violence against women and girls mostly affects women journalists while in their work and the trauma they face occurs when they have to cover a story of gender-based violence which is very difficult to deal with.”

Challenges

Lack of funding to carry out investigative reporting on violence against women and girls was mentioned among the challenges.

As well as bad cultural and traditional beliefs that deny women the opportunity to be in the decision-making process.

Therefore, there is a need to empower women journalists on how to do stories in triangulation as they also face the issue of gender-based violence.