Media houses urged to put in place anti-sexual harassment policy

Ministry of Information and Media Permanent Secretary, Kennedy Kalunga has called on media organisations to put in place anti-sexual harassment policies.

Mr Kalunga says management of media institutions must put in place standards and procedures that will ensure that work places are safe with zero-tolerance to sexual harassment.

Speaking during the WAN IFRA Women in News (WIN) Alumni Zambia Chapter Launch and Skills Building and Networking Conference held at Taj Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Kalunga said the research which was conducted in 2020 by WIN in eight countries including Zambia showed the extent of sexual harassment in the African media with female journalists being the most affected. 

 “According to the research, 51 percent of Zambian women in the media experienced sexual harassment and of these, only 19 percent reported due to fear of not being believed, being stigmatized, and losing one’s job,” he noted. 

And speaking earlier, WAN-IFRA Women In News (WIN) Deputy Executive Director for Africa Region, Jane Godia said WIN will continue to highlight issues that affect women in media and has since called on organisations to protect the rights of women and create an environment where the female folk can operate freely. 

“Most women fail to operate freely due to gender inequality at their places of work and this is among many things that we shall endeavour to address,” Ms Godia said. 

Meanwhile, Women in News Zambia Chapter Chairperson, Panic Chilufya said the WIN training is aimed at providing capacity building to female journalists to produce news articles that are gender balanced. 

“We want to ensure that women’s voices are amplified unlike having men sources all the time,” Ms Chilufya said.  – ZANIS