By KETRA KALUNGA
ABOUT 80 percent of sexual harassment cases in the media are unreported mainly due to fear of losing a job, negative impact, retaliation and not being believed, a global report conducted by the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-INFA) has revealed.
The global study analysing sexual harassment in 20 counties including Africa shows that experiences of sexual harassments were overwhelmingly perpetrated by fellow employees and management in media organizations.
According to the findings, on average 40 percent of women have experienced sexual harassment of some kind in the workplace and of these only 20 percent chose to report.
On average 12 percent of men are said to have reported the cases of sexual harassment that took place at the work place.
Of the few cases that are reported, action is taken by the organization in only half of the cases and these are limited to warning the perpetrators.
The international study documenting the extent of sexual harassment in newsrooms is the largest of its kind to focus on men, women and gender non-conforming media professionals in 20 countries throughout Africa, Southeast Asia, Eurasia (Russia), the Arab Region and select countries in Central America.
The study was carried out from November 2020 to September 2021, surveyed more than 2,000 individuals and included interviews with 85 senior executives in media organizations.
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