Let Women Have a Say Too!: Why Are So Few Women in the Media? Why Are Women's Views Not Reflected in the Media?

This 47-page qualitative study was carried out by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as part of the Mozambique Media Development Project that ran from 1998 to 2006. The study aimed to show the need to encourage more Mozambican women to enter and to stay in journalism, and the need to mainstream gender in media coverage. This research sought to give a qualitative explanation, through in-depth interviews, as to why few women enter and stay in the media. The study suggests that there is a lack of understanding of gender mainstreaming in coverage. Interviews with editors, women and male journalists, and members of other institutions suggest that what is on paper, i.e. legislation to bring about more gender equality, has not brought about any dramatic progress in reality in the media and in its coverage of gender.


The study found that women journalists are especially under-represented in Mozambique's print media, with some newspapers, such as the Sunday newspaper, Domingo, and the Independent, Zambeze, having no women journalists. Others had only one or two women. Most, although not all, editors felt that it was a problem having so few women journalists, but there was no agreement as to how to change this situation.

The research found that new policies need to be developed and supported in media organisations to keep women in the profession. It also found that there was a serious lack in understanding about what mainstreaming gender in coverage meant, especially among the predominantly male journalists and editors.

The report recommends six basic areas that, if implemented, could enhance the advancement of gender within media houses and in media output. These recommendations are:

• address the cultural barriers for women entering into journalism - this includes the development and use of communication materials on television, radio, and in schools;
• attract more women candidates of high quality - this includes supporting internships, organising writing competitions, and setting up talks in schools;
• create more incentives - this includes supporting training for journalists, supporting English classes and internships, and sponsoring women journalists to take part in conferences;
• support media organisations to develop a gender policy - this includes running workshops for editors and senior women journalists;
• create more opportunities in the provinces - this includes supporting a bulletin to link up women journalists in the provinces; and
• encourage gender mainstreaming in all coverage - this includes on-the-job-training, workshops, media trips, and media monitoring.