Sundaymail Editor
Sunday Mail Reporter
ONE in two women working in southern and east African newsrooms has experienced sexual abuse, while almost half of all media organisations in the two regions do not have sexual harassment policies, a recent study has concluded.
A survey conducted by the WAN-IFRA Women in News (WIN) in partnership with the University of London found that one in five men in newsrooms have experienced sexual harassment.
The study, which was the first phase of a broader multi-region study, was conducted in eight countries.
It sought to gauge the prevalence of harassment in news organisations and to establish measures being implemented to provide safer newsrooms.
In a statement, WAN-IFRA Women in News (WIN) said the research concluded that most victims of harassment do not file formal complaints out of fear of victimisation.
“The eight-country study reveals that nearly one in two women has been sexually harassed at work — alongside one in five men and about two in five gender non-conforming individuals,” reads statement.
“Further, many cases of physical and verbal sexual harassment go unreported because the victims fear further victimisation and lack confidence in management systems and interventions.
“And even when action is taken, the results are often underwhelming.”
The study surveyed 584 respondents in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“Almost half of the respondents (46,12 percent) said they had witnessed at least one incident of sexual harassment, with nearly one in five saying they had seen five or more incidents at their workplaces.
“Yet, only 30 percent of cases are reported, as victims said they were afraid of filing a formal complaint would lead to the loss of their jobs, negatively impact how they work, lead to retaliation or mean they would be negatively labelled.”
Women in News manager for the Africa Advisory, Mrs Susan Makore, said the research offers expert input on how to manage and prevent sexual harassment.
“We have seen some victories within media organisations that have begun to actively manage the problem — starting with adopting policies and procedures that the staff can support.
“But the numbers are small and we still have a long way to go before staff are convinced and are made comfortable that if there are incidents of sexual harassment, they can report them, and action will be taken without any victimisation.”
Women in News director Ms Melanie Walker said the research also found that oftentimes organisations failed to effectively deal with sexual harassment.
“The research highlights a lack of trust in the organisation, or sometimes a complete failure of management and systems to deal effectively with sexual harassment,” said Ms Walker.
“This matters because the less confidence there is in an organisation’s ability to address the problem, the less likely people are to see value in calling it out and the cycle will perpetuate.”
She added:
“Almost half (46,7 percent) of those surveyed said their organisations had no sexual harassment policy, while 35,9 percent were unaware of what was in the policy and just 17,4 percent were aware of its contents.
“And while respondents said action was taken in 42 percent of the cases reported, the most common organisational response was to warn the perpetrator.
“This was followed by emotional support for the victim, dismissal of the case after review and training for staff on sexual harassment.”
The study found that another barrier to reporting harassment was that managers and supervisors were the main perpetrators.
“Perhaps the biggest barrier in reporting is that the perpetrators are often managers or supervisors — people with responsibility and power.
“Survey respondents identified their harassers as fellow employees (in 38 percent of cases), but 21,5 percent of the time, they were direct supervisors and in 19,5 percent of cases, members of higher management.”
The research highlighted the need for media organisations to recognise the extent of sexual harassment and put in place steps to provide a safer working environment.
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