SECTOR 2 There is a great deal of gender imbalance in the newsrooms which impacts on the kind of stories covered and the way in which they are covered. Male dominated newsrooms perpetuate stereotypes – the prostitute, sexy woman and bad mother - or portray women as victims. Female sources in stories remain faceless and nameless. If a story highlights policy issues, it is commented on by experts who are very rarely women. A few journalists on the panel (male and female) attempted to explain how this came about: “It’s hard to get women to talk. Male sources are easier to work with. We might get hold of the CEO of a bank to comment on a story on economics but because she is a woman she will refuse to comment.” In general, it was said, women confine themselves to “safer” issues when asked for their opinion. There is a national Gender Policy developed by the Ministry of Higher Education but it is not being used to develop the institutional policies of media organisations. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator. 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 1.3 (2008: n/a; 2006:n/a) 2.8 All media fairly reflect the voices of society in its ethnic, linguistic, religious, political and social diversity. Analysis: English is the dominant language in the media. National FM and Radio Zimbabwe make an attempt to carry other languages, especially Shona and some Ndebele. 38 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZIMBABWE 2010