Under a two-day grouping within four days, thirty journalists from radio, television, Print and Online platforms have been trained in developing gender responsive content.
The trainings were conducted by Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA) with support from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, between Tuesday 18th September 2022-Friday 21st September 2022 at the women in media umbrella premises in Kisaasi-Kampala. Each group constituted fifteen journalists representative of all media categories across Twelve media outlets.
Dr. Patricia Litho, the Board Chair of UMWA told the journalists that there is need to consider gender sensitivity within principles of journalistic practice.
“There should be reemphasis of linking the discussion of gender sensitivity to the journalism principles of diversity, truth and balancing stories. Let’s change the narrative to equitable equality. Where it is a 50% for male, so should it be for females and at worst 50-49%,” said Dr. Litho
She added that the continuous capacity building and advocacy that UMWA extends is not random thought but rather informed by research that is undertaken on gender issues as represented by media.
The trainings hinged on enlightening journalists on what social injustices are in society, most affected persons, power relations, cultural constructions and impact on gender, stereotypes, understanding gender and the role media holds towards gender responsiveness. This was also in addition to understanding gender legislations that mandate gender responsive reporting.
Trainees were from: NBS, NTV, UBC, Red Pepper, Daily Monitor, Bukedde, Chimp reports, Prime Radio, Galaxy FM, Mama FM, Tiger FM, Nabweru and BTM TV.
Isaac Olupot, a news reporter with NBS Television and Nile Post reflected that he feels guilty that a number of his stories were least representative of women because of non-deliberate efforts to have their voices included.
“Understanding gender roles and why women are least available as we journalists always perceive makes me guilty by knowledge that my stories have been gender imbalanced with least or no women voices. I now understand that I need to be more deliberate with women sources as a form of equitable consideration to have their opinions represented. Surely, society expects so much from women, they too busy, about and least understood by media.” said Olupot
Doreen Sampa, a Human Rights Advocacy Officer with UMWA highlighted that journalists do not extend favour to women but rather an obligation mandated of them by international, national and regional human rights laws.
Priscilla Namuli, News Anchor with NTV emphasized that: ” The conversations of Gender Inclusion should not be a women only talk, we need to include men because its for all of us in terms of impact”
Martha Nansubuga, a journalist with Mama FM added that the media glorifies men by many times massaging their ego which has turned into toxic masculinity that further marginalizes women and their views.
From a content analysis session, journalists were tasked to evaluate images used against news publications of six print pieces of Daily Monitor, Bukedde and New Vision. Of the 269 images, 42% of these were women however largely passively projected and in smaller portrait as opposed to the males. Others were non-captioned amidst male counterparts.
| Newspaper | No. of Pictures | Men | Women | Balanced |
| Daily Monitor 1 | 34 | 22 | 10 | 2 |
| Bukedde 1 | 60 | 24 | 36 | – |
| New Vision 1 | 41 | 24 | 17 | – |
| Bukedde 2 | 31 | 23 | 8 | – |
| Daily Monitor 2 | 61 | 27 | 34 | – |
| New Vision 2 | 42 | 22 | 9 | – |
| TOTAL | 269 | 142 | 114 | 2 |
Henceforth, journalists were asked to take into gender sensitive needs, in-depth reporting with gender equity, gender legal bench mark and recognizing that audiences are not homogenous. Similarly to consider gender disaggregation.
Margaret Sentamu, the Executive Director of UMWA thus remembered the journalists that all people have suffered unfair treatment in life however no one deserves so and media should not be a facilitator of the uneven.
“Are we in the business of discriminating people or we are a profession that tries to create hope and solutions to people without marginalization of any.” stated Sentamu.
She further called onto the media to consider impact of the gender insensitive stories disseminated beyond news worthy element of media house.
Article 33 of Ugandan Constitution of 1995 demands that both women and men shall have equal and fair treatment with any form of discrimination. By so doing, it provides for affirmative action and development of laws and policies that promote gender equality and equity. This is with alignment to Article 29 that guarantees freedom of expression by all people.
The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women internationally rebukes marginalization of women by states in any sector or access to resources, their utilization. And the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 instructs media to:
“i) Increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision making in and through the media and new technologies of communication, ii) Promote a balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media. These key elements were directional to governments, media, academia, development partners and media practitioners through gender responsive actions.”
However the 2020 GMMP Report indicates that women are only 24% visible in news media in Uganda, a percentage only achieved at a 6% rate in the past twelve years. This is attributed to non-specific gender policies mainstreamed to media, sexism, stereotypical language and least regulation of newsrooms against the business models that create gender imbalances in media.
