Women working in African media were twice as likely to experience sexual harassment at work than men, according to a new report by Women in News, a media development program by the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

The study is the first large-scale data collection on sexual harassment in African media, which Women in News said supports “the belief that it is prevalent everywhere and is a significant impediment to a healthy media industry, regardless of country or context.”

Women in News surveyed journalists in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe between July and November 2020. Of the 584 who completed the survey, 70 percent were women, 27 percent were men, and 2.4 percent were gender non-conforming. Researchers then conducted in-depth interviews with 32 managers and executives from different media companies.

According to the findings, for one in two women, the harassment was verbal (56 percent), and for one in three, the harassment was physical (38%). For men, 24 percent experienced verbal sexual harassment and 15 percent experienced physical sexual harassment. Of gender non-conforming people, one in two (50 percent) had been verbally harassed, and 36 percent had been physically harassed. (Note the sample size is quite small here, though — 14 journalists.)

Read the full article about sexual harassment of women journalists in Africa by Hanaa' Tameez at Nieman Lab.