Media organisations need to employ a range of strategies to bring women into the newsroom and keep them until they reach senior levels.
This was the consensus during a panel discussion “Empowering Future Leaders” at the WAN-IFRA Digital Media Africa 2021 conference held in July.
“A mindset change may be needed to equip today's young journalists with the right skills and then unlock their way to a seat at the top table,” said Women in News project manager and leadership accelerator Boitshepo Balozwi asked at the Balozwi.
Women are underrepresented in the global news media. Men account for nearly two-thirds (64%) of reporting jobs, reveals an International Women's Media Foundation study.
Yet the majority of journalism graduates are actually women.
“For example, 61% of journalism graduates in Kenya are women, yet women only make up 42% of the journalists in newsrooms,” states the Missing Perspectives of Women in News, a report commissioned by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Visual Point Creative Group CEO Vincent Kaniya, who attended the WAN-IFRA conference said this called for the need for deliberate strategies as well as support mechanisms and initiatives that can equip women to be impactful journalists and future industry leaders.
“Media organisations that have managed to bring ladies [sic] on board are those media organisations that actually came up with a plan on how to do it, where to get the ladies, how to integrate them into the newsroom and once those ladies were in the newsroom, how to empower them [...] and for them to have an impact,” Kaniya said.
Toyosi Ogunseye, who heads the BBC West Africa newsroom, said women journalists ought to put in the “hard work” to climb up the leadership ladder.
“There is no substitute for hard work. You have to put in the work irrespective of your gender, even more because of your gender to show that you can do it,” she said.
For Zambian freelancer Lozaria Lungu, networking and conducting background research have helped her find success as a journalist.
“I know when I read, I am able to get more ideas, more enlightenment and insight just from books and articles," she said.
Kaniya also emphasised the importance of reading by accelerating expertise and helping women grow in the newsroom.
“Know what you want to do in the newsroom, don’t be a pushover […] walk into the newsroom and start to claim spaces,” said Kaniya.
A Reuters’ Institute study highlights that only 22% of the 180 top editors across the 240 publications polled as part of the report are women. This is “despite the fact that, on average, 40% of journalists in the 12 markets are women” the study said.
“What we have often seen is young journalists and most women can spend four or five years in a newsroom without being a specialist,” said Kaniya.
Despite the challenges stacked up against women journalists, Ogunseye said they had to push on.
“Irrespective of your gender and even more because of your gender you just have to show that you can do it and not be restricted by whatever beat you are put on,” said Ogunseye.
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