adminDuring the session, several women particularly aspiring politicians said they often struggled to receive media coverage and legitimacy in the media and subsequently by the public.
This, they said, was not largely due to the quality of news they wanted to share with the public, but they were perceived to be weak newsmakers.
One of the women, a district chairperson in Chirumhanzu, said some journalists often hold them accountable for actions of their husbands and their children though they rarely extend the same practice to male politicians.
“They ask female politicians questions they will never dare ask a man within the same situation.
“If anything they often focus on female candidate’s behaviour outside the office and do never show interest on the work that we are doing in the community,” she explained.
Her case is not unique, because there are several women who are faced with the same predicament in their endeavour to engage the media, and have their meetings, events and campaign rallies covered.
After haggling and pestering for coverage and should they be lucky to have their event covered, reading a woman’s story, you will realise that more often than not,
the story will not say much about the event but will be full of perceived feminine traits.
On the other hand, an article for a male candidate will focus on the event, while bringing out masculinity issues associated with masculinity, vigour, energy and power.
By reinforcing these traditional and gender stereotypes, it affects how there are perceived by voters and are often ignored by the media, something that continues to affect their media coverage across political boundaries.
Only on Tuesday, the Deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development Jessie Majome came out hard on the media for marginalising issues affecting women in Zimbabwe.
She argued that women’s issues were not adequately covered in the ongoing constitution-making process, something that was likely to affect their contribution and integration of their ideas in this important piece of legislation.
The general debacle of media and women would probably be taken care of, if more publishers, media houses and other players in information dissemination create more information avenues for women.
In 2009 the formation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) resulted in the three principal leaders adhering to Article 19 of the GPA that guaranteed the opening up of more private players in the media.
Although not many publishers have heeded the call, Mr Edward Kuyipa, a Harare based publisher, is working on a women’s magazine that is expected to hit the streets by the end of August.
Already hopes are high that the women’s magazine will fill in the void, being left by several publishers, mainly newspapers in articulating women’s issues.
Titled Woman’s Monitor Magazine, the publication will among other things seek to empower marginalised women from grass root levels of the Zimbabwean society.
Kuyipa, who doubles as the director and the editor of the magazine, said it will provide women with a platform to air their views.
“From the boardrooms to the grass root levels Women’s Monitor magazine’s concept seeks to provide space and voice for the under represented women.
“It’s main objective is to allow women understand issues at their level through the involvement of men and supporting and empowering them,” he said.
The magazine will also be in the Shona and Ndebele to allow woman in the rural areas to easily comprehend issues raised in the publication.
“We have suggested that the copies come in three languages which are Shona, Ndebele and English.
“This will allow those marginalised women (our chief audience), to comprehend suggested solutions and issues raised to their advantage.
The magazine was founded on the basis that women have poor representation in crucial areas, through dissemination of information and their negative portrayal in media.
Woman’s monitor magazine through the involvement of men in issue to do with women is one of the many strtategies that the country could use to bridge the existing gender gap in line with the Millennium Development Goal (MDG).
Already there are indications the country is far from attaining some of the MDG’s, which among other things seeks to eliminate gender disparity and address the share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector.
The MDG”s also seek to promote the inclusion of women in national parliament equally at all levels by 2015.
Information is power and women being the backbone of society they require as much sprucing up in every way possible.
The country requires a favorable landscape, to groom astute women who can make a difference in their societies and communities.
Online Reporter