Struggles of the female journalists

During my little so called experience in the media industry in Africa, I have come across a serious major concern; women hardly participate in this industry. Few women are being incorporated in the media.

A survey I carried out with other female journalists, artistes etc like me, who had fought had to get into the industry, have explained the challenges of the female journalists who try and are trying to make it work.
Women are viewed as inferior and that they should not speak out. The patriarchal society most African women are living in, requires women to be submissive and to be always on the background and men at the fore front. This had made women not to fully participate in the media because most of them believe that men should be their voices because that syndrome has been well adopted in the newsroom.

Women are hardly given the opportunity to cover politics but rather mere courts, community stories because they are viewed as incompetent.

Women cannot carry out certain activities because they have to take care of families such that they are given easy tasks. The long hours can be a strain for married female journalists who at five pm need to hurry back home. The woman is the one with the prime responsibility to provide domestic care and sometimes balancing the demands of work and home can be challenging.

They are expected to be attractive, sexy in order to attract audience and source and in another way being view as sex objects, source news sources even ask for sexual favors, including those in the newsroom, so that they get opportunities in the newsroom and obtain information.
Some women are said not to be technologically advanced and such that they cannot operate the computers or cameras giving more preference to the male counterpart.

....to be continued