18 Botswana Guardian female investigative journalist Yvonne Mooka CREDIT: YVONNE MOOKA via TWITTER take advantage of their female employees due to their privileged power positions. In August 2019, MISA Lesotho partnered with the Lesotho National Insurance Group to launch Women in Media Awards to recognize outstanding female journalists and motivate them to remain professional in their quest to challenge the status quo of male-dominated leadership in the media. According to the World Association of News Publishers, gender representation in newsrooms in Botswana has hardly improved in the past decade. From the editorial leadership of nine mainstream newspapers, only two women — the editor of The Voice and managing editor of Weekend Post — are in positions of power and influence. The work environment is generally not conducive for women, accentuated by low salaries and misconceptions of labeling women as “lazy” and unable to take on certain tasks. in some newsrooms. Women journalists are also prone to attacks as shown by the “manhandling” of two female journalists, Charmaine Ngatjiheue and Jemima Beukes by the police. These realities are reflected in the 2020 Global Gender Gap Report which states that “there is still a 31.4% average gender gap that remains to be closed globally”. In Lesotho, the rise of sexual harassment cases in the newsroom has been attributed to meagre remuneration. With no minimum wage standards for journalists, salary rates are often determined on the strength of negotiations with the employer. One of the female journalists interviewed for this report stated that “women find themselves easily sexually harassed, including by sources, because their employers inadequately remunerate them”. Sources often promise them stories at “private meetings” and because of the pressures to deliver in a male-dominated industry, they end up in places where they can easily be harassed. Majirata Latela, a female journalist working with The Reporter, stated that a source once asked her what she would “give in exchange for the information”, but the story was later dropped after she told her editor. Others argue that some of the female journalists succumb to sexual advances to “retain information channels”, while some simply want to put food on their table, given the poor pay of media workers. Anna Shale, the Board Chairperson of Mose-HoSeaka community radio said some male managers This has relegated female journalists to entertainment reporting, while their male colleagues are assigned politics and investigative segments. Female journalists who disregard these stereotypes and attempt to thrive in the maledominated sectors are more often castigated than their male counterparts. Yvonne Mooka, a female investigative journalist with the Botswana Guardian was trolled and harassed online for her expose of a “prophet”. The absence of gender policies in media houses has further normalized these stereotypes. ASSESSMENT Principle 3 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa provides for nondiscrimination, wherein everyone has the rights to exercise freedom of expression and access to information without distinction of any kind, on one or more grounds, including race, ethnic group, colour, sex, language, religion, political or any other opinion, political association, national and social origin, birth, age, class, level of education, occupation, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other status. Principle 7 further calls on States to take specific measures to address the needs of marginalised groups in a manner that guarantees the full enjoyment of their rights to freedom of expression and access to information on an equal basis with others. Marginalised groups include women and sexual or gender minorities. It is also incumbent upon States, as prescribed under Principle 20, to guarantee the safety of journalists and other media