Tanzania media challenged to put gender policies on use
What you need to know:
- The call was made during a knowledge sharing session that brought together gender stakeholders and editors and journalists
Dar es Salaam. Gender stakeholders have challenged media houses in Tanzania to implement their respective gender policies as they should be, to promote equality in the newsrooms.
The call was made during a knowledge sharing session that brought together gender stakeholders and editors and journalists, to discuss how best the media houses in Tanzania can promote gender equality.
Speaking at the event, a senior digital communications officer at think tank Twaweza, Ms Jane Shussa, who presented on the role of data in promoting gender equality, said, gender violence cases were rampant in the newsrooms despite the presence of the policies.
According to her, statistics show that 91 percent of Tanzanians say it can never be justified for men to beat their wives, but 42 percent of women have experienced gender-based violence from their former or current partners.
The UNESCO programme officer, Ms Nancy Kaizilege, said the agency was pleased to cooperate with the Ministry of information, Communications, and Information Technology to organise the meeting to discuss how to better promote gender equality through media houses, specifically addressing the rising cases of gender-based violence in Tanzania.
She said, with over 32 million citizens accessing the internet now and over 75 broadcasting coverage, it is important for the platforms to be safe and protect the groups using them, specifically women, girls, youth, and vulnerable groups.
“The meeting agreed to have an action plan to be part of the national plan for the prevention of violence against women and children, to guide the work of the media and technology sector and address issues of GBV, but also to have a standalone plan by these key actors of key sectors to promote media and information literacy to create safe spaces in the media spaces,” said Nancy.
The executive director at Jamii Forums, Mr Maxence Melo, who presented on combating misinformation and disinformation on gender issues, said; “As we head to the general election, we are likely to witness a lot of GBV targeting women.”
