By Tafadzwa Muranganwa
Three years ago, three university students were at the cusp of their journalism careers, looking forward to starting their journeys in newsrooms in Zimbabwe. However, they met with unforeseen roadblocks.
Nicole Kurebwasweka couldn’t get placement for the industrial attachment unit of her journalism course at the University of Zimbabwe. The production department of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation turned her down, saying they had a preference for male producers.
“A senior manager told me that the department was reserved for men and advised me to host children’s programmes instead,” Kurebwasweka told
AWiM News.
Rose Gwandu, who was also looking for industrial attachment, couldn’t find a newsroom that cared about the issues that affect women. She found that most media houses were male-dominated, favoured hard news and barely paid attention to the gender lens.