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Those black women who have ventured, albeit late, into the media
and made a success of it have largely done so under their own
steam and against all odds.
Ownership of the media by black women is another area for concern.
Lack of capital; access to donors; business skills; and access
to loans from financial institutions have effectively ensured the
continued marginalisation of black women as media owners. An
enabling environment that will encourage black women to fully
participate in levels, including ownership, of the media must be
created.
The advent of independence of Southern African countries created
an enabling environment that afforded the opportunity for black
women to go into the mass media, especially since these were
state-owned (NBC, Namibia; SABC, South Africa; Radio Botswana;
ZNBC, Zambia; ZBC, Zimbabwe; MBC, Malawi, etc.). However, this
has not achieved a gender balance in positions of authority.
A cursory glance at public/national broadcasters reveals that
women journalists are equal in number to their male counterparts,
sometimes surpassing them, as is the case at the NBC, TV Malawi
and many others.
However, few women are in policy-making or management positions.
A case in point is the SABC. The three Chief Executives since the
transformation in 1994 have all been men. The NBC is another
example, where the three Directors-General since independence in
1990 have all been men. Zimbabwe’s ZBC and Zambia’s ZBC have
all been headed by men since independence. At NBC, only three of
the 10 people in top management are female.
Even recently created national broadcasters like Television Malawi
(1999) and Television Botswana (2000) are all headed by men.
Their second tier management levels are also dominated by men.
One of the many obstacles still facing black women in the media
today is the lack of training opportunities. When training offers
eventually became available in post independence Southern Africa,
it was invariably the men that benefited.
However, this situation is changing, albeit slowly. Regional training
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