By The Conversation

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Survivors of sexual violence around the world have begun to speak out more in recent years. This has happened partly due to the #MeToo movement, which began in 2006 in the US and gained momentum through high-profile cases like Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein and actor Bill Cosby.

On the African continent, several countries have seen the movement gain ground. In Kenya, there was the #mydressmychoice campaign while in Nigeria the #Arewa-MeToo campaign mobilised survivors and activists. In South Africa, women have used several campaigns including #EndRapeCulture, #AmINext campaign and #TheTotal-Shutdown to demand change. And in Malawi, journalists took to the streets in November 2020, in a march against rape and sexual abuse.

The un-silencing of survivors may have accelerated in the past few years, but the response from organisations remains haphazard at best. Consequently, across many sectors there is little incentive for survivors to come forward.

The policies that are meant to protect people from sexual harassment are often opaque or nonexistent.

Moreover, punishment of perpetrators is rare and retribution for survivors who report it is common. Included on the long list of problematic industries is news media. When the #MeToo movement took off globally in 2017, it triggered new research into the prevalence of sexual harassment in media.

But much of the inquiry focused on the west, with almost no attention on the global south. We conducted research on sexual harassment in newsrooms, working with WAN-IFRA Women in News, a global organization focused on gender equality.

Our large scale survey of news personnel looked at the rate of sexual harassment, how often people report it, the sources of harassment, and how organisations react.

Women in News defines sexual harassment as unwanted and offensive behavior of a sexual nature that violates a person’s dignity and makes them feel degraded, humiliated, intimidated or threatened.

The results show little helpful action is taken when survivors report this behaviour. Organisations still cultivate unsafe work environments in which their staff seldom report it. If they do, their claims are likely dismissed. Or the accused is merely warned. The negative cycle silences survivors and empowers perpetrators.

Women are primetargets This project employed two methods for data collection: A survey of media personnel, distributed online, and in-depth interviews with media executives conducted online through video calls. The approach was designed to understand patterns of sexual harassment in newsrooms, and monitor perceptions of officers with positions of power within media organisations.

The survey responses were anonymous and interview participants were assigned a pseudonym to protect their identity. Data collection began in July 2020 in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It ended in November 2020.

The survey was completed by 584 participants and 32 in-depth interviews were conducted with managers and executives. The findings show that women are the prime targets of sexual harassment. An average of 56 percent experienced verbal harassment and 38 percent experienced physical harassment. But 24 percent of men reported experiencing verbal harassment and 15 percent reported experiencing physical harassment.

Those who identified as gender non-conforming were a small sample in the study, but 50 percent reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment.