In the midst of the pandemic, women have found new opportunities online, writes Mercy Mangwana The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the uptake of digital tools and services and scaled up the global transition towards a digital economy. The Economist reckons that the usage of mobile internet grew faster in the first quarter of 2020, as citizens, governments and…
Gender inequality is entrenched in Africa: In governments, in organisations and even in media. In newsrooms, women are underrepresented at every level, as well as in news coverage. A report released in December 2020 revealed the marginalisation of women’s voices in news coverage around the world. In The Missing Perspectives of Women in News, study authors audience strategy expert Luba Kassova and AKAS…
Three years ago, three university students were at the cusp of their journalism careers, looking forward to starting their journeys in newsrooms in Zimbabwe. However, they met with unforeseen roadblocks. Nicole Kurebwasweka couldn’t get placement for the industrial attachment unit of her journalism course at the University of Zimbabwe. The production department of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation turned her down, saying they…
Sexual harassment is media’s open secret, and journalism in Cameroon is losing many promising reporters who leave the newsroom to run away from it.
Nelly Ating has been documenting the plight of child victims of Boko Haram, in the norther part of Nigeria. Ating, a photojournalist, focuses on the trauma inflicted on the children by the militia. While telling the stories of children caught up in the crosshairs of conflict is Ating’s driving force, she told AWiM News that…
Culton Scovia Nakamya, a reporter at BBS Television in Uganda, was the only female journalist on Robert “Bobi Wine” Kyagulanyi’s campaign trail. On Wednesday, December 30, 2020, she joined Kyagulanyi, the main opposition candidate for the January 2021 election, who was heading to Kalangala, a tourist district that is part of the popular Ssese Islands. Nakamya was looking forward to visiting the island for…
Janet Otieno was editing the final page of a magazine for the Citizen, a Tanzanian newspaper, when she received a call from human resources. It was 5pm in April 2020, about a month after the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Tanzania. Janet, the acting managing editor and features editor at Mwananchi Communications in Tanzania, stopped mid-sentence…
When Nigerian journalist Angela Ulunma Agoawike was conducting research for her university project in the late 1980s, she had difficulties finding the information on women in politics. “I visited two university libraries – Nsuka and Port Harcourt – but there was not much literature on women like Margaret Ekpo, a frontline politician in her time. Despite the involvement of women in…
I arrive for the Friday afternoon appointment with Eunice Omollo right on time. Eunice, a health and science journalist at the Nation Media Group in Kenya, has been hesitant to share her story, but when we set up this interview, she assured me she was ready. There is no sign of Eunice, and after a few minutes of waiting,…
Read the full report here. ‘I couldn’t meet my bosses sexual wish and lower my dignity or break-up my family. I was repeatedly bullied and feared that for my own security I would almost leave my job. Misogyny is discouraging and can lead one to leave journalism’. In a male-dominated news industry, African women struggle……...
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My story started late at night when I received a late night call from my superior which I was tempted to ignore as I was so sleepy thought it was my wake up alarm. Little did I know that it was a wakeup call for me. He asked me to try and apply for the…
“Life is a test, never give up” Journalism is not for a faint heart! Every Female journalists around the world has a story to tell about the terrible ordeal they (have) had been through while in the line of their duties. Some say they missed opportunities, promotions or those ‘big’ assignments because they said no…
