“ It’s shocking to know that even some fellow media practitioners don’t even understand why it is important to fight for the rights of women and girls” observed Birabwa Catherine, a journalist with Fresh TV
December 10th annually marks end of 16 days of activism in fight towards ending Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) for equal human rights.
As Uganda Media Women’s Association, we advance that media plays a pivotal role in shaping societal attitudes, behavior and adaptations, among which is gender sensitive considerations. Henceforth, in collective efforts towards the monstrous VAWG, the women media umbrella has undertaken gender responsive capacity building among media practitioners across the country. This has been with aim to set deliberate recognizant agenda within media to realize that there is urgency to end the increasingly and abusive inequality towards women and girls.
Margaret Sentamu, the Executive Director UMWA, in her deliberations to journalists in Northern Uganda, emphasized the primary role of media in amounting social change for gender equality.
“ The media among many functions does agenda setting in which set content is used to go ahead and bring about social change and emphasis should be put where the rights have been violated or where women/men and children issues are not being addressed.” said Sentamu in her training of media practitioners in Gulu and Kitgum districts.
Examples of Violence Against Women and Girls are: Domestic violence, Coercive and controlling behaviors, Sexual violence: rape and force prostitution, sexual harassment and bullying, crimes committed in the name of ‘honor’ based violence, Harmful practices: forced marriage – female genital mutilation, Modern slavery and human trafficking, Gendered gang violence.
These violence forms have even worsened during the pandemic outbreak especially with the girls kept out of the education system and preyed into teenage pregnancies and early marriages.
According to the Ministry of Gender report (March-June), 4300 teenage pregnancy cases were registered with prevalence higher in rural areas as opposed to urban settlements. Despite this, there was limited media prioritized coverage of issue through the pandemic and post period.
Enshrined under the 1993 Declaration on the elimination of violence against women, the legal framework stipulates women’s rights as a fundamental right towards gender equality. These among other international and national policies guarantee and advocate for eradication of all forms of violence based on gender.
Journalists across the districts engaged agreed that gender inequality through VAWG is an issue that media should prioritize sensitively and understand.
“We should stop pretending as if things are fine. Women are still being treated as property in some communities and media is silent about it” said Ainembabazi Hellen, a journalist with Success FM
Contribution of Culture in VAWG
- Studies have expressed that Cultural beliefs are unrealistic and regressive especially to the women; they make women inferior while men as superior thereby enforcing an oppressive patriarchy system that facilitates gender inequalities and instigates violence towards the marginalized.
- Media reports also indicate that cases of defilement and early marriages are highly attributed to cultural norms where girls and women are viewed as sex objects, marital roles and priced for wealth generation into families.
Scientifically, victimized individuals usually part with socio-psychological effects from a situation and this is important for media to recognize in order to report sensitively on the victim and issue. Some of the effects to consider by media on victim are: trauma, stigma, depression, isolation, rejection.
Through these trainings, UMWA has enlightened journalists about the referral system that is key in helping issues of violence against women or any other affected party.
Cotilda Babirekere the project Officer reflected that the role of media does not simply stop at reporting these stories encountered however also referral help to the victims.
“Some of the authorities within the referral system are: Probation officers, Local council chairpersons, Police, Relatives, GBV centers, Hospitals, Courts of law,” highlighted Coltilda
Esther Kayaga, journalist with Top Media implored fellow journalists to follow up on the survivors of VAWG whose stories they publish and know their progress to fulfill role of the fourth estate bound to fight for the rights of the marginalized” Esther Kayaga (Journalist Top Media)
Uganda Media Women’s Association with support from UN Women are implementing this initiative that aims at equipping Journalists in the Districts of Kitgum, Gulu, Bundibujo, Kasese, Tororo and Kampala in gender sensitive reporting focusing on violence against women and girls.
A total of 150 journalists were targeted from all the implementing Districts 30 from each region and 60 from Kampala. It is assessed that the over two million people coverage of the media practiced in by the targeted journalists shall benefit from the capacity passed on.
The undertaking has contributed strongly to the theme of this year’s 16 days of activism through different strategies towards media like capacity building, awareness creation, advocacy and lobbying, and continuous media gender audit to track progress of media gender responsiveness.
So what for media beyond today
- Media practitioners interest in VAWG stories
- Gender sensitive reporting
- Deliberate efforts by policy makers and implementers towards gender mainstreaming in media space
