Media stakeholders are raising concerns over the lack of gender-inclusive reporting in East African newsrooms. They want concerted efforts to ensure more female journalists get equal opportunities like their male counterparts.

Whether in the newsroom or the field, in a panel discussion or in selecting analysts, media disparities in news coverage, especially on women’s matters, is a perennial challenge.

At a recent workshop in Nairobi, various industry actors raised their concerns. They espoused the action plans needed to ensure that Kenyan newsrooms and the wider sub-region attain gender-inclusive reporting.

East Site examines what has contributed to the lack of gender-inclusive reporting and suggests possible remedies.

Lack of comprehensive gender policies

The absence of comprehensive gender policies is particularly prevalent in legacy media houses across the three East African countries. In Kenya, for instance, out of the 15 mainstream media houses, only the Nation Media Group and the Standard Media Group have Gender desks.

Unfortunately, many media houses and media managers disregard the establishment of such desks, which would have helped amplify the input of women not just in storytelling but also as an aspect of inclusivity in the newsrooms.

Sexual harassment 

Only a handful of media houses have put measures with clear guidelines on how victims of sexual harassment can find help.

In addition, there is a lack of robust implementation of these guidelines, and most media houses lack policies to deal with the vice.

Inadequate capacity among the media practitioners

The inadequacy in capacity is evident in how media practitioners interrogate, analyse and report topical issues through various lenses, including gender and human rights.

Few women leaders

Most leadership opportunities are given or occupied by men. The situation is dire in print media, where most journalists and managers are male, leaving women at the periphery.

Allocation of duties

The distribution of journalistic tasks in the media often takes a gender dimension. In most cases, “softer stories” are assigned to women while their male counterparts get to cover the “hard stories”. Moreover, reporting on gender is still seen as a “woman’s thing.”

“Media houses should encourage equal participation of women in producing and writing of hard news. Let’s have more women covering the hard news; politics, science, governance, business and many others,” Churchill Otieno, the president of Kenya Editors Guild (KEG), said at the workshop.

Societal stereotypes in newsrooms 

For long, societal stereotypes have impeded the growth of women in society and even in the newsroom. Because society views women as the “weaker gender”, they have been side-lined in some critical roles. There is a misconception that women cannot execute certain roles. A perception Otieno says media houses must end.

Addressing the above challenges to gender-inclusive reporting will not be easy. However, the workshop suggested the following tips:

The teaching of gender-inclusive reporting in journalism schools 

Many journalists enter the job market while still gender blind due to a lack of gender training – unfortunately, the ignorance becomes evident in their reporting.

Setting up gender-responsive policies

Gender-responsive policies would ensure that media owners employ more women in diverse roles.

The policies include an immediate review of prohibitive laws and administrative procedures (in both print and electronic media) that impede women’s advancement in career development.

Media houses in East Africa should encourage women’s equal and full participation in gathering, writing and producing hard news (such as in politics, crime, violence and science and technology).

Gathering data on gender representation

Media houses should generate comprehensive data on gender representation and preferably publish it quarterly in print and electronic media.

Such data will help identify gender irresponsive media houses and assist in determining what barriers exist in giving fair coverage to men and women.

There should be a deliberate effort to increase access and participation of women in media reporting and coverage through capacity building and training.

Sensitisation of media houses on gender-balanced reporting

Media houses must adapt and apply gender parity policies and expand and build a fair and balanced reporting of women’s issues, including women’s rights and child rights.

Journalists in line of duty. The distribution of journalistic tasks in the media often takes a gender dimension .PHOTO/AKU

Strengthening partnerships

Media houses should reinforce or expand alliances and partnerships and leverage resources to train women reporters in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzanian in leadership, management and governance.

According to Otieno, who, apart from being the KEG president, also serves as the Head of Digital at Nation Media Group, for media houses to realise gender-inclusive reporting, they must exercise the responsibility bestowed on them as the Fourth Estate.

“The media in Kenya is a force to reckon with and it comes with some responsibilities. The media speaks for all Kenyans but gender mainstreaming must begin within the media,” he said.

“We tend to a large extent lack stand-alone gender policies even in the mainstream.”

Pia Weurlander, who works with UN Women, said the organisation would continue to support the implementation of constitutional commitments to achieving gender equality and empowerment of women.

Betty Sungura, the chief executive officer of the National Gender and Equality Commission, also shares Weurlander’s views. According to Sungura, there is a need to re-affirm principles of gender-sensitive and inclusive reporting focusing on special interest groups. She also called for the identification of opportunities for media to highlight and track incidences of exclusion, including gender-based violence persecution directed at women rights defenders and journalists.



About the Author


Author ProfileIsaac Swila
The author is a Kenyan journalist. He's passionate about political reporting, governance, social and digital media as well as sports journalism.

Similar articles



Millennials And Gen Z Media Consumption Study Launched

Report by Aga Khan University’s Media Innovation Centre analyses the country’s millennials and digital natives’ media consumption habits.


Why legal education for journalists is a key tenet to attaining media viability in Tanzania

For the media to flourish, and the society to have free flow of accurate and verifiable information, journalists, the drivers in the passing of information are expected to be well grounded in laws and the legal aspect pertaining to the job, writes Alfred Ganzo.


Why pitching is important for startups

Pitching provides numerous opportunities for your new or existing business ideas to be discovered and realized; and as Simon Mtabazi writes,  some startups have become billion-dollar companies due to efffevie pitches


Marketing for Media Startup – why it matters

The success you achieve with your media startup business will heavily rely on your reputation as a trustworthy company, and as Nandi Mwiyombella writes, it will also open a new window for customers and potential investors.


EAST Festival 2022: Building an informed and thriving community through journalism

That’s why I think today is such a great space for us to sit back and reflect on the questions that could help us shape the kind of journalism that we want to see in our local and global community.


Media Innovation Centre launches report on media innovation and media viability in East Africa

The report specifically analysed eight major variables which include: newsroom structure and resources, media ownership and business models, organisational capacity, innovation culture, journalism culture, financial trends and results, content quality and COVID-19.


Maureen Mudi’s quest to make media a better space for journalists

Mudi, in her role as Media Council of Kenya regional coordinator in charge of Mombasa(covering the entire coastal region), has found herself at the forefront in advocating and fighting to protect journalists’ rights, culminating in her being awarded for her peace efforts in the run-up and during the 2022 general elections in Kenya.


Journalists’ experiences covering Kenya’s 2022 general elections

The 2022 general elections have been mentally draining for journalists, some of whom have had to stay on the campaign trail for over a year. Others have had to toy with the tough call of managing teams in the newsroom. East Site’s Isaac Swila and political writer Rawlings Otieno recount their experiences


How social media influencers shaped Kenya’s 2022 General Election

What role did social media influencers play in the election? What voice did they give in political discourses during and around the election period? And to what extent did political candidates involve the influencers in marketing their manifestos to sway votes in their favour? East Site writer Steven Omondi unpacks the details


Why audience research is crucial for Media Viability

The media industry is experiencing enormous transformation as new digital trends emerge. With the vast opportunities that the digital space offers, media owners and content producers must deliberately adapt to how the audience consumes content.


Opinion: Excavating the Truth through Fact-checking

With the increased Digital Technology at the palm of just anybody; there are a lot of information that distort whether deliberately or not highlighting the need of robust Fact0checking as Asha D. Abinallah explains


Social Media: Where should journalists draw the line?

Is there a danger in media personalities having a vibrant social media presence? Assuming they have a massive media following, should they self-regulate and filter what they post? And when they engage with followers, should their opinions be taken as personal, or does it represent the journalist’s media house? East Site writer Isaac Swila explores


Media Innovation Centre partners with Mozilla to launch Pocket

The partnership will also ensure that local content is curated and distributed to better optimize the product and meet the needs of Kenyan online users.


How media outlets can safely handle user-generated content

The news industry is constantly changing, and in the last few years, User Generated Content (UGC) has become a ubiquitous feature in news sourcing and packaging. However, media houses and journalists need to establish verification and credibility safeguards to avoid the misinformation trap.


Six tips journalists need to know when covering elections

Reporting on elections is, for many journalists, an opportunity to establish themselves as reliable political reporters. But the task comes with certain risks, particularly in the East African sub-region.

Stakeholders are now calling for concerted efforts, better planning and preparations for journalists before they are sent out on the field to cover Kenya’s high-stakes August 9 General Elections.


The perils of political reporting in East Africa

East Africa’s media grapples with a myriad of challenges whenever general elections approach. Not only do editors struggle with balancing the competing political interests, at times at the altar of professionalism, but individual journalists pay dearly, many suffering attacks in the course of their duties.


Enact policies that guarantee education for all

As Form One students settle into a new life in secondary school, this has also been a period of reflection. We have read tear-jerking and heart-warming stories of determined students who overcame many odds to get an education and how well-wishers came together in their aid.


Optimism in Tanzania’s media industry after a dark period

There is renewed optimism in the Tanzanian media space following the ascension to power of President Samia Suluhu whose regime is keen to relax some of the laws deemed punitive to journalists and media houses


RSF 2022 Press Freedom Index: A mixed bag for East Africa

Uganda fell behind, whereas Kenya improved its press freedom ranking in the Reporters Without Borders 2022 Press Freedom Index. And after years of media freedom decline, Tanzania appears to be on the right track. But overall, media freedom activists say there is still work to be done.


Good journalism does not come cheap

A free and independent press is the cornerstone of any democracy and the foundation of economic success, mostly because through our free press, we’re able to hold the leadership to account.


Opinion: Rethinking media houses revenue streams in the Digital era

To align with the changing times and stay relevant in the business, media houses are challenged to rethink their strategy and to adopt and understand obstacles and challenges they face towards rethinking and exploring alternative sources of revenue and on developing the digital strategy.


Hamasa Media Group: Tanzanian innovators with a solution to organisation management

A team of young, Tanzanian tech-savvy communication professionals is dreaming big. It seeks to usher a new dawn in media business management in Tanzania by optimising employee output and offering consultancy to media businesses on how they can operate with a minimal budget but still attain their goals.


The legal challenges facing East Africa’s bloggers and influencers 

Bloggers and influencers have become an integral component of information sourcing across East Africa. The public uses blogs, privately run websites and social networks to crowdsource information from social networks, which they then publish and distribute. But it’s not all rosy for this group of content makers.


Afyatoon: How two medics are transforming lives through story-telling

The chances of meeting a medical graduate practising journalism are usually very slim, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. But two Tanzanian physicians have broken away from that norm by inventing a start-up called Afyatoon. It uses visual art technology to tell compelling medical stories. They narrate to the EAST Site their experience and share their vision for the future.


Five astounding findings from the MCK state of Kenya’s Media Survey

Did you know that in 2021 Kenyans watched less TV and spent more time on social media? Or that some Kenyans rely on family, friends, or even social media icons and bloggers as a source of news and information? These are some of the conclusions highlighted in the 2021 State of the Media Survey conducted by the Media Council of Kenya (MCK).


Uganda’s media strives to reinvent itself post Covid-19

The effects of the Covid pandemic continue to change the world in ways we had not imagined possible. The media is going through a painful transformation to keep up with changing production, distribution and consumption habits. In East Africa, Uganda’s Media Challenge Initiative (MCI) recently hosted a panel discussion on Media Viability comprising experienced journalists from Television, Radio, Print and Online/Digital media to address lessons learned from the pandemic. East Site’s Moses Mutente attended the panel and compiled this article.


Opinion: Africa must revamp journalism education to include media ownership

In this commentary, Uganda-based journalist Caleb Okereke shares deep personal insights into why media schools in East Africa must rethink their curriculum. He stresses the need for trainers to begin teaching media ownership to better equip journalism students for the dynamic and cutthroat job market by taking us through his journey as a journalism student and media owner.


Dwindling trust in media raises concerns ahead of Kenya’s General Election

For the second year running, a survey commissioned by the Media Council of Kenya shows that the trust level in Kenyan media has nosedived, raising fundamental questions on how media will play its watchdog role more so with landmark elections set for August 9. EAST Site writer Isaac Swila explores.


Opinion: Media needs credibility to survive the pandemic and digital transformation

Legacy media is currently caught between a rock and a hard place — the Covid pandemic and the rise and proliferation of social media has hit revenues hard. Some say this could signal the end of news as we used to know it. However, Ugandan decorated journalist Ernest Bazanye believes the industry will survive and thrive, but not without a fight.