STATE OF THE MEDIA REPORT QUARTER 4, 2020 slept with men in higher position. We therefore call upon Sun FM management to serious look into this matter and take appropriate action.” She stated that Zambia is a signatory to the SADC the Gender Protocol Agreement which calls for 50/50 gender representation. “Therefore, MISA Zambia expects all media institutions to align their political programmes in line with this protocol. As we approach the 2021 general elections, we call on all media houses to treat all political players equally, regardless of their political affiliation, race, tribe or gender,” Ms Mwale stated. “MISA Zambia also expects journalists and talk show hosts to be non-partisan, independent, gender sensitive, and objective while moderating their political programmes in order to give every political party a platform to explain its manifesto. MISA Zambia is also appealing to media houses and journalists in particular to promote female participation in political governance of this country.” The trend of gender humiliation and victimisation of women in the media has been an issue of concern to many stakeholders especially in view of the desired 50-50 gender representation. As such, there is need for media to put in place deliberate measures aimed at creating a safe environment for women to participate in politics and aspire for public office. Such incidents as the one recorded at Sun FM have the risk of discouraging women from aspiring for leadership positions for fear of humiliation on account of their gender and cultural stereotypes 7. Media houses must thus undertake gender audits as well as put in place deliberate guidelines as part of their editorial policies. Some studies on gender portrayal and participation of women in Zambian media spaces have shown that the media spaces are generally hostile towards women, often victimising them as compared to their male counterparts. An excerpt from a study dubbed “Women and interactive broadcasting in Zambia”8 exemplifies this, among many other observations: Female politicians reported that they do not necessarily feel targeted by the audiences since their male participants are equally heckled. However, their view is that the comments from the audience are sometimes about their private lives which is often not 7 According to a study by Dr Alice Evans titled “’For a change we want women!’: Closing the gender gap in Zambian politics”, women’s encroachment into historically male-dominated political domains and growing popular support for them as independent political actors are primarily due to contemporary exposure to a critical mass of women demonstrating their equal competence in masculine domains. Although some women make incursions into employment and politics historically, their paucity means they were generally perceived as deviating from (rather than disconfirming evidence of) gender stereotypes about the typical woman. See https://ecpr.eu/Filestore/PaperProposal/2e364a79-806b-4875-a7f215e70b4bc49e.pdf 8 Milapo, N. (2016). Women and interactive broadcasting in Zambia. [o]. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303859936_Women_and_Interactive_Broadcasting_in_Zambia/cit ation/download P a g e 18 | 56