by Tatenda Murandu

Women in the media constantly face a myriad of challenges. This has seen more women who start off in the media diverting to other fields because of the unfriendly media terrain. In response to this, the Friedrich Nauman Foundation for Freedom has come up with a Womentoship program that trains and mentors young women who are just starting off their careers in the media. Their goal is to empower young female journalists with skills to overcome challenges they are likely to face. Currently in its second year running, the latest mentorship sessions were recently held in Gweru.

The Foundation works in partnership with senior female journalists who have broken the glass ceiling and made impact in the field of Journalism. The mentors include, Faith Zaba Editor of the Zimbabwe Independant, Victoria Ruzvidzo The Sunday Mail Editor, Annie Mpalume one of the very few photo Journalists in the country, Grace Chirenje a Development Practitioner and Therapist and Radio and Television personality Martha Mamombe.

The mentorship program is done in a way that is entertaining, interactive and educative, with the senior journalists sharing their life and career experiences. The interaction between mentors and the mentees makes it possible for the young journalists to identify their strengths and weaknesses and how best to perfect their skills.

These media change-makers encouraged young journalists at the Gweru meeting to break the glass ceiling and to aim for the highest positions. Faith Zaba emphatically told the young ladies that they can do exceptionally well in the media through hard work and sacrifice. “We want to rule out the perception that women cannot achieve greater opportunities in their careers. I have no doubt in the ability for any of you to overcome,” she said.

Women in the media face challenges where they have to juggle productive and reproductive responsibilities in a patriarchal society and in work environments that don’t have policies that support them. Bottlenecks also hinder their professional progression as promotion sometimes is not given on merit.

Victoria Ruzvidzo Editor of The Sunday Mail said, “the newsroom is not for cry-babies but for the bold”.  Reports carried out by Gender and Media Connect (GMC) show that women in the newsroom are not being allowed to cover hard news, their salaries or wages differ from males. All these issues affect their career development resulting in a few women in leadership positions. Victoria however said that women have the ability to conquer all these obstacles and make it big if they are consistent and work hard.

The three day program gave the mentees an opportunity to get ‘practical’ with Anne Mpalume teaching on photo journalism. Vibrant radio and television personality Martha Mamombe wowed the rapt young journos as she showed them how she manages to do her radio shows, evolving from a trainer to the radio personality they know and love right in front of their eyes. She also tackled issues on etiquette and radio and television broadcasting. She advised the mentees to be versatile and multi-functional in their media houses. Being multi-functional helps for one to remain relevant in a fast changing media environment.

The Womentoship Fellowship Program gave an insight into real problems that women in the media face every day, among this being the issue of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is any unwanted sexual behaviour that makes someone feel upset, scared, humiliated or offended. These may include sexual advances or request for sexual favours. According to a report by Women In News (WIN), 40% of females in the media have experienced some form of harassment at their workplaces. Women are twice more likely to experience sexual harassment at work than men. Only 30% of cases of sexual harassment were ever reported to management because of fear of reprisals and lack of faith in organisation’s management to effectively handle such cases.

Grace Chirenje addressed the importance of sharing such experiences with someone, reporting sexual harassment and seeking therapy. “Sexual harassment robs young women of their power, young women fail to realise their full potential of becoming the best media practitioners Zimbabwe needs,” she said.