SECTOR 4 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: 3.5 (2012 = 3.3; 2010 = 2.5; 2007 = 3.7) 4.8 Equal opportunities regardless of race or ethnicity, social group, gender/sex, religion, disabilities and age are promoted in media houses. Although there are more women than men at entry level in the media, the management level is dominated by men. “Women I’ve spoken to who have left (a certain media house) in the past 2 years, have cited issues such as unconventional working hours, the issue of low pay, starting families, and so forth. Some felt that they were not being given the ‘hard beat’, and for others, at university they studied PR, and were told that newsroom experience would be a stepping stone, so they had only planned to go in briefly. We need more female role models in the newsroom.” “Conditions in the newsroom are rather hard, not that women can’t handle it, but you’re only left with the crop that really want to make career of it.” Although most media houses describe themselves as equal opportunity employers, there are still discrepancies between men and women’s salaries for the same work. “There is not equal pay, especially at the management level.” In many cases (particularly in private media), new entrants have to negotiate their salaries and/or their perks individually. “When it comes to talking about equal pay, they talk about equal opportunity and hide behind this. But when you look at it from a rights-based approach, you would find that things are not completely equal beyond encouraging women to apply.” Sexual harassment – whether in-house or external – is also a reality that may determine women’s decisions to leave. “One woman said she was not going to complain, but she was going to leave the newsroom. We have a policy in place, AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER UGANDA 2016 75