Yeukai Munetsi/ Tinaani Nyabereka
Gweru -Friedrich Neumann Foundation (FNF) held its annual Womentonship event in Gweru aimed at empowering female journalists in both newsrooms and media environment at large last week.
The event drew young women from all corners of the Midlands and Masvingo provinces.
Speaking at the event FNF programmes manager Fungisai Sithole said the main objective of this initiative was to empower and address patriarchy in newsrooms.
“The general observation over the years which I think is undisputed, is that the newsroom is patriarchal yet at university, women are the majority but when it comes to the newsrooms, male counterparts become dominant.
“We are also trying to make sure we prepare young and upcoming journalists about the newsrooms and also give them a platform to network.
“This is the second year we are doing this programme, in the previous programme we discovered that during sexual harassment sessions, journalists would break down so this year the foundation decided to invite a resident therapist since the sessions are emotional and painful to go through,” said Sithole
Sithole however said as an organization, they were working with Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) to try and involve men in the mentorship programmes through summer schools.
“The aim of including both men and women is for us to understand each other in curbing sexual harassment,” she added.
One of the participants Sharon Mudzawa said she was very happy to be part of the programme as she managed to gain more knowledge and confidence as a female journalist.
“I am happy we had this training workshop. Our Industry is male dominated and that makes it hard for us women to excel but this workshop has taught us to be confident and penetrate newsrooms.
“We have learnt how to survive in the newsroom and our facilitators being females, we feel more encouraged.” said Mudzawa.
Moreblessing Sigwaze a student studying Geography and Environmental studies at Midlands State University (MSU) said the workshop addressed different aspects of life which are relevant in society.
