4.8 Journalists and other media practitioners are organised in professional unions and associations. ANALYSIS: The majority of Zambian journalists and other media practitioners, with the exception of those working for the Post, are organised into professional associations, such as MISA-Zambia, The Press Association of Zambia (PAZA), and the Zambia Media Women’s Association (ZAMWA). They are also members of either the Zambia Union of Journalists (ZUJ) or the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) Zambia chapter. SCORES: Individual scores: 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4 Average score: 4.5 4.9 Gender mainstreaming is promoted in terms of equal participation of both sexes in the production process. ANALYSIS: Positive steps have been taken and significant advances have been made with regard to gender mainstreaming and the promotion of equal participation of both sexes in the production process. No statistics are available. But there appear to be more women than men working in the Zambian media today. The ZNBC-TV Controller is a woman, and women make up the great majority of newscasters and writers in the ZNBC newsroom. At the Zambia Daily Mail, the Editor-in-Chief is a woman, in addition to the four who now sit on the 9-member editorial board, compared to 1999 when there were only three women in top positions. SCORES: Individual scores: 3, 3, 3, 4, 3, 2, 3, 3 Average score: 3 4.10 Gender mainstreaming is reflected in the editorial content of the media. ANALYSIS: Although women now occupy top positions and more women have been brought into newsrooms, their effect on content appears cosmetic. Coverage does not reflect the wider issues of concern to women. It tends to concentrate on high-profile females, such as ministers and civil society activists. Women sources are generally absent from media content. Apparently, reporters prefer to quote “knowledgeable” sources, who are usually seen as being men, and ignore women, most of whom are regarded as not being sufficiently knowledgeable or enlightened. This state of affairs is aggravated by the fact that most media are biased towards political stories and most political sources are perceived to be male. Failure by editors to provide leadership to journalists may explain the latter’s inability to generate content that reflects the dynamics of the gender question and the reality on the ground. But progress is slowly taking place, as can be seen at the Zambia Daily Mail, which devotes two pages to gender and female news each week. In addition, the paper has a dedicated gender So This Is Democracy? 2005 -280- Media Institute of Southern Africa