Journalists urged to improve and increase coverage of gender-based violence

JOURNALISTS have been urged to be careful in the way they report on gender-based violence as this has an impact on how society views the subject.

This was said at a one-day media briefing session held in Bulawayo by Musasa Project on Monday.
 
Journalists from both the public and private media  in Bulawayo and Midlands provinces  were also encouraged to make  gender-based violence an agenda in their stories.

The regional manager for Bulawayo and Midlands at Musasa Project, Ms Lindile Ndebele, said journalists were influential stakeholders.

"You are powerful people and may you use that influence to conscientise the public on gender-based violence and its effects, how to report perpetrators and how the victims can be helped," said Ms Ndebele.

She said Zimbabwe's predominantly patriarchal society contributed a lot to women being abused and failing to report as most of them were economically dependant on men.

"One of our hindrances in dealing and sweeping out gender-based violence is the patriarchal society which has a definite bias towards men and their aspirations at the expense of women who still need empowerment," she said.

In a report on the gender-based violence situation in Zimbabwe, Ms Ndebele said there has been an increase in the number of reports of gender-based violence cases over the years.

"The statistics that we got from the Victim Friendly Unit show that there were 1 940 reported cases in 2008, 3 193 in 2009, 7 628 in 2010 and 2 536 for the first quarter of 2011," said Ms Ndebele.

She added that most of these cases  were from Midlands, which had the highest number of gender-based violence rates.

One of the objectives of the workshop was ensuring that journalists have an understanding of gender-based violence and domestic violence.

Journalists were also encouraged to improve and increase coverage of gender-based violence issues, a move that should lead to greater understanding of the subject.