Improve coverage of female leaders, media urged

Post Reporter
THE media must improve its coverage of female leaders in society and focus more on their role in community development, Minister of State for Manicaland Affairs Cde Mandi Chimene has said. Officially opening the Zimbabwe Women Parliamentary Caucus workshop at a local hotel last Saturday, Cde Chimene reminded the media to be gender sensitive in their line of work.

“The number of women in Parliament has been increasing over the years, but there is still concern that there is no adequate coverage of women issues in the media.
“The coverage of politicians in the media has been dominated by male politicians. It is sad to note that women, even female parliamentarians, are mainly covered in the media when it is about child care, their dressing, looks and all other unnecessary issues that are given precedence over progressive and developmental role of women in society,” Cde Chimene said.

The two-day Zimbabwe Women Parliament Caucus workshop on Media and Parliamentary, which was aimed at, among other aims, imparting skills to women on crafting motions and developing informed debates, brought together more than 100 female members of the National Assembly.

Speaking during the same function, the ZWPC chairperson, Cde Monica Mutsvangwa, said female parliamentarians must explore ways to effectively engage the media for them to be visible and play their role in achieving gender equality.

Cde Mutsvangwa, who is also the Deputy Minister of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services, challenged women parliamentarians to explore ways of effectively engaging the media in order for them to be visible and play their role in achieving gender equality.

“I am told that one of the aims of this workshop is to promote more media coverage on women and to elevate women’s voice. It is against this background that we should remind each other that we are leaders and we cannot avoid the media. Women parliamentarians have to understand the media better and also find ways to pack their messages better for onward transmission to society through the media

“It is a fact that women parliamentarians are not receiving adequate media coverage hence the need to explore ways to improve women parliamentarian coverage. We do not expect the media to be a mirror of the patriarchal society but an agent of change towards gender equality.

“We are tired of the derogative and negative reporting that has always characterised media coverage of women parliamentarians and women in general. The media has a critical role in doing away with the gender stereotypes that have been hardened by centuries of socialisation yet more often than not, the media has been part of the problem and not the solution,” she said.