ELECTION stakeholders have red-flagged biased media coverage against female politicians, saying journalists should promote fair coverage for both genders as the country edges closer to the August 23 general elections.
Speaking during a gender reporting workshop in Harare last week, Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) board member Farisai Chaniwa said full participation of women in politics could only be achieved when the media gave equal coverage to male and female participants.
“It is disheartening to witness challenges faced by women during electoral processes, including violence that hinders their full participation and representation,” she said.
“The media plays a pivotal role in shaping public opinion and influencing societal norms. It is our responsibility as journalists to ensure that we report on these issues accurately, ethically and responsibly.”
Speaking at the same event, Media Monitors Zimbabwe researcher Green Pascal Kunyeda said the media was promoting violence against women politicians through stereotypical representations and unprofessional coverage.
“Zimbabwean media have adopted a stereotyped approach in reporting women in elections. More pertinent when it comes to sensational descriptions of women political candidates.
"Findings from studies in the first quarter baseline on elections for 2023 indicate that there is targeted violence against women. We conducted an analysis of news articles on social media platforms involving women political players and 62% of comments analysed online were derogatory against women),” Kunyeda said.
Zimbabwe Media Commission representative Tariro Shoniwa said name-calling of women in politics through the media, especially social media, was very rife.
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Women featured less in stories that referred to policies as well as less sexualised stories, Shoniwa said.
Zesn senior electoral education and capacity building officer Emma Chiseya said with the August 23 elections approaching, the media had a role of promoting peaceful campaigns.
“Violence against women in elections should not be treated as a personal issue, but rather as a societal problem that must be prevented,” Chiseya said.
