Tanzania Government orders for special line for reporting sexual harassment cases in media houses
“I encourage my fellow women journalists to speak out against sexual harassment in newsrooms. We have many institutions that are ready to build our capacity and enable us understand more about our worth as journalists and how well we should tackle these issues at work places’ – Ms. Leah Mushi, Member- Graça Machel Trust Women In Media Network.
In a bid to curb the increasing cases of Gender based violence in Tanzania’s media houses, the government has announced that a special hotline number will be introduced for purposes of reporting such cases, emanating from media houses.
Speaking during the 2nd Annual Summit for Women in Media and PR in Dar es Salaam, Information, culture, arts and sports minister Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe said those whose names will be reported will face the full force of the law.
The Minister was reacting to pleas from the women in Media and PR practice in Tanzania to the government to deal with the increasing cases of gender-based violence and particularly sexual harassment in newsrooms.
“It is no doubt that sexual harassment in our newsrooms is on an increasing trend and something must be done now than later to save our journalists especially female journalists from this menace”- Ms. Bevin Bhoke, the chairperson of the Network of Women in Media and Public Relations of Tanzania.
Ms. Bhoke and the network secretary Leah Mushi also screened voices from trainee female journalists narrating harrowing experiences of what they go through in training institutions as well as newsrooms before their stories and articles are published or are allowed to do a presentation on radio or TV.
“It is not easy passing through the male dominated newsrooms, a male cameraman once told me if I don’t accept his moves, he would disfigure my face on TV and have me removed from presenting” Student
“They all ran away from training me camera work because I could not agree to their sexual advances. I had to discontinue my learning since there was no one to train me!”, lamented another.
After listening to the stories, the Minister ordered his office to immediately put in a place a hotline number where media practitioners who face these challenges can report.
“I promise to deal with the names that will be presented to me and if possible, make them public for members of the public to know them and the crimes committed. We want to deal with this menace once and for all” – Dr Mwakyembe.
Dr. Mwakyembe noted that the move to have the hotline number was a temporary one and that the government was working on permanent solutions including ensuring that all media houses have working gender policies and documents.
“The working gender policies will go a long way in helping us solve some of the issues that we are trying to address, like what you have just watched and heard. We all know that even if we keep quiet, sexual harassment is a serious impediment to the growth of women journalists, not only in Tanzania but in the world over” -Ms. Bhoke.
The minister called on both male and female journalists to respect each other at work places and offer solutions together in dealing with sexual harassment in work places.
Speaking during the event UNWomen representative in Tanzania Hoddan Addou also called on the governments to have lasting solutions to deal with the gender-based violence issues in Tanzania. She noted that proper policies and legislation will go a long way in ensuring an GBV free working environment for Tanzania journalists.
She spoke just before the minister unveiled the Media and Gender handbook by UNWomen aimed at supporting Tanzania media in covering gender related stories. The annual meeting that is also dubbed ‘Meet and Tweet’ brings together female journalists, PR and communication specialists working in Tanzania from both the private and public sectors. This year’s event coincided with the campaigns to mark 16 days of activism against gender-based violence where the world galvanizes efforts towards fighting GBV.
Network official Joyce Shebe also said the network will have a special desk where harassment cases for those who fear reaching out to the ministry can also report to complement the ministry’s work .She called on female journalists to use the network as a safe space and platform where they can freely discuss issues that affect them at work.
Currently, the network has a membership of over 250 members spread across Tanzania.
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