Study reveals rampant sexual abuse in media houses
What you need to know:
- Study on sexual harassment in media houses, conducted in 2018, by two media specialists covered Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
- It sampled 202 news professionals about their personal experience with sexual harassment.
- Issues identified as rampant in newsrooms include sexist attitudes, gendered norms, and various forms of sexual harassment and abuse.
- Overall, men had higher levels of hostile sexism and perceived newsroom equality.
- On average, women experienced sexual harassment four times more than men.
- Newsroom sexual harassment of women was reported by 77.5 per cent in Kenya, 57.5 per cent in South Africa, and 38.1 per cent in Nigeria.
A new study has lifted the lid on rampant sexual harassment in Kenyan media houses.
The study titled Newsrooms need #Metoo movement: Sexism and the press in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria focused on experiences of journalists in the three countries.
It was conducted in 2018 by two media specialists Lindsey E. Blumell and Dinfin Mulupi and released last month after going through the academic publishing peer review process. It was published formally by the Feminist Media Studies journal.
The #Metoo movement aims to raise awareness of gender inequalities across sectors in many countries.
Some of the issues identified as rampant in newsrooms include sexist attitudes, gendered norms, and various forms of sexual harassment and abuse.
The study focused on news personnel from Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria to identify ambivalent sexism, perceptions of newsroom equality and personal experiences of sexual harassment.
From the study, Nigerian participants had the highest levels of hostile (antipathy for women) and benevolent (belief in traditional gendered roles) sexism.
Overall, men had higher levels of hostile sexism and perceived newsroom equality.
The study sampled 202 news professionals from the three countries about their personal experience with sexual harassment.
NOT REPORTED
In response, newsroom sexual harassment was reported by 77.5 per cent of women in Kenya, 57.5 per cent of women in South Africa, and 38.1 per cent of women in Nigeria.
“On average, women experienced sexual harassment four times more than men, while 20 per cent of women have experienced sexual harassment at least five times at work,” says the study in part.
In addition, the study also found that 8.1 per cent of men have experienced sexual harassment at least five times at work.
About 29.7 per cent of men in Kenya were found to have experienced sexual harassment, with South Africa registering 11.1 per cent and Nigeria 10 per cent.
“The survey also found out that 90 per cent of participants chose not to report to their employer with only participants from South Africa who reported stating their organisation took action,” the survey report says.
Participants also reported experiencing sexual harassment from different sources with fellow employees accounting for 40 per cent in Kenya, 21.2 per cent in South Africa and 19.3 per cent in Nigeria.
Sexual harassment by direct supervisors accounted for 13.7 per cent in Kenya with Nigeria recording 9.5 per cent and South Africa 2.5 per cent.
About 50 per cent of participants from South Africa reported facing sexual harassment from members of higher management with 16.2 per cent of those from Kenya and 9.7 from Nigeria reporting of the same.
MALE RESPONDENTS
Twenty per cent of participants reported having witnessed sexual harassment at least five times at work.
In Kenya, 80 per cent of female and 61 per cent of male respondents confirmed having witnessed sexual harassment.
Things were no different in South Africa as 47.5 per cent female and 62.9 per cent male respondents also reported the same.
In Nigeria, 23.8 per cent of female and 50 per cent of male participants also affirmed having witnessed sexual harassment in their respective work places.
Ms Lindsey is a senior lecturer at City University of London. She holds a PhD in media and communication from Texas Tech University.
She specialises in human rights representation in news, with a special emphasis on gender. She has largely focused on how sexual violence against women is portrayed in traditional and new media.
Ms Mulupi is a PhD student at the University of Maryland. She previously worked as a business journalist in Kenya for six years.
Her research interests focus on women’s rights, particularly on gender-based discrimination within media companies, and the representation of gendered violence in the media.
“We hope that these findings will clarify the extent of the problem of sexism in the media workplace and the responsibility for us all to create safe, conducive work environments for journalists (and especially female journalists),” said Ms Mulupi.
