What can we do about the missing voices of women in the news?
Gender inequality is entrenched in Africa: In governments, in organisations and even in media. In newsrooms, women are underrepresented at every level, as well as in news coverage. A report released in December 2020 revealed the marginalisation of women’s voices in news coverage around the world. In The Missing Perspectives of Women in News, study authors audience strategy expert Luba Kassova and AKAS […]
We couldn’t find suitable internships, so we created our own media house
Three years ago, three university students were at the cusp of their journalism careers, looking forward to starting their journeys in newsrooms in Zimbabwe. However, they met with unforeseen roadblocks. Nicole Kurebwasweka couldn’t get placement for the industrial attachment unit of her journalism course at the University of Zimbabwe. The production department of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation turned her down, saying they […]
Sexual harassment scourge causing untold pain for women in media
Sexual harassment is media’s open secret, and journalism in Cameroon is losing many promising reporters who leave the newsroom to run away from it.
Invisible scars: Cost of covering traumatic stories
Nelly Ating has been documenting the plight of child victims of Boko Haram, in the norther part of Nigeria. Ating, a photojournalist, focuses on the trauma inflicted on the children by the militia. While telling the stories of children caught up in the crosshairs of conflict is Ating’s driving force, she told AWiM News that […]
Journalism, bullets and trauma: Lessons from Uganda’s election
Culton Scovia Nakamya, a reporter at BBS Television in Uganda, was the only female journalist on Robert “Bobi Wine” Kyagulanyi’s campaign trail. On Wednesday, December 30, 2020, she joined Kyagulanyi, the main opposition candidate for the January 2021 election, who was heading to Kalangala, a tourist district that is part of the popular Ssese Islands. Nakamya was looking forward to visiting the island for […]
Journalism, bullets and trauma: Lessons from Uganda’s election
Culton Scovia Nakamya, a reporter at BBS Television in Uganda, was the only female journalist on Robert “Bobi Wine” Kyagulanyi’s campaign trail. On Wednesday, December 30, 2020, she joined Kyagulanyi, the main opposition candidate for the January 2021 election, who was heading to Kalangala, a tourist district that is part of the popular Ssese Islands. Nakamya was looking forward to visiting the island for […]
Pandemic took away my paycheck, but brightened my career prospects
Janet Otieno was editing the final page of a magazine for the Citizen, a Tanzanian newspaper, when she received a call from human resources. It was 5pm in April 2020, about a month after the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Tanzania. Janet, the acting managing editor and features editor at Mwananchi Communications in Tanzania, stopped mid-sentence […]
Digital archives can put the hidden work of women on record
When Nigerian journalist Angela Ulunma Agoawike was conducting research for her university project in the late 1980s, she had difficulties finding the information on women in politics. “I visited two university libraries – Nsuka and Port Harcourt – but there was not much literature on women like Margaret Ekpo, a frontline politician in her time. Despite the involvement of women in […]
Pandemic reporting drove me to the brink of suicide
I arrive for the Friday afternoon appointment with Eunice Omollo right on time. Eunice, a health and science journalist at the Nation Media Group in Kenya, has been hesitant to share her story, but when we set up this interview, she assured me she was ready. There is no sign of Eunice, and after a few minutes of waiting, […]
New study reveals barriers on Entry for Women journalists in sub-Saharan Africa
Read the full report here. ‘I couldn’t meet my bosses sexual wish and lower my dignity or break-up my family. I was repeatedly bullied and feared that for my own security I would almost leave my job. Misogyny is discouraging and can lead one to leave journalism’. In a male-dominated news industry, African women struggle […]
