Introduction
 Workforce Profile
 Human Resources Policies
 Gender Policy
 Editorial Policy
 Summary
 Closure

The NBC, as national broadcaster and mass
communicator, plays a vital role in promoting
gender equality.
 The corporation has realised that valuing
equality in broadcasting is not only beneficial
from a humanistic, but also from a business
point of view because it enables the corporation
to access the hitherto under-utilised potential of
women.


The NBC has come to appreciate that in order for
it to survive in an increasingly competitive
environment it needs a multi-skilled and diverse
workforce that will enable it to respond to the
needs of its audiences and consumers quickly
and efficiently.
Camera Operator Elizabeth David capturing visuals for NBC news.

The NBC, in acknowledgement of the fact that
certain groups in society, including women, have
been discriminated against in terms of career
advancement, access to training, resources,
opportunities and power, has implemented
targeted measures aimed at redressing this
situation in the shortest time possible.
 The
corporation’s Affirmative Action
Plan is one of these measures aimed at
reversing these injustices and gender
inequalities.
Through its Affirmative Action programs the NBC
intends to change its workforce profile in terms
of gender on all job levels so as to ensure a more
equitable and representative picture of the
Namibian society.
 The NBC furthermore wants to identify and
eliminate all disparities and remove all remnants
of any discriminatory practices within the NBC.

Lighting Assistant Martha Namhadi adjusting lights at an NBC Studio.

If one looks at the workforce profile of the
corporation (as per the Affirmative Action Report for
the period 2008/2009), one will notice that as far as
Senior Management is concerned, the NBC has
taken major strides in gender balance.
 At
CEO level, the Corporation was blessed to
be led by a female Director General, during
the period January 2010 to July 2010, a first
in the history of the NBC.
 On board level, women are unfortunately
underrepresented, having only two females in
a Board consisting of five members.
Ms Frieda Shimbuli, served the Corporation as an Acting Board Chairperson
untill July 2010, providing much needed strategic direction to the NBC.

The number of women on middle management level
is significantly lower than that of men. Thus the NBC
needs to create more balance in terms of gender on
the middle management level. The same applies to
the specialized/skilled/senior supervisory level. If
one looks at the total workforce, the number of men
still outweighs the number of women.
(as at July 2009, source: NBC Affirmative Action Report 2008/2009)
(as at July 2009, source: NBC Affirmative Action Report 2008/2009)

The numerical goals the NBC has set itself for
2010/2011 (in terms of its 3-year corporate
Affirmative Plan) are encouraging. The national
broadcaster plans to employ 53 additional
women as opposed to 22 additional men. This
would decrease the gender gap.
(2010/2011; source: NBC Affirmative Action Report 2008/2009)
(2010/2011; source: NBC Affirmative Action Report 2008/2009)

If the NBC were to reach its goals, the workforce
profile in 2010/2011 would look as follows:
(source: NBC Affirmative Action Report 2008/2009)
(source: NBC Affirmative Action Report 2008/2009)

When it comes to remuneration, the NBC does not
differentiate
between
men
and
women.
Remuneration is calculated taking the incumbent’s
job grade, qualifications and experience into
account. Thus, as far as the calculation of pay and
employment benefits are concerned, women at the
NBC enjoy the same rights as their male
counterparts.
Franlin Thomas, one of the popular news presenters of the NBC.


In 2007, the NBC, embarked on a process to develop a
gender policy, as well as action plans that aimed to cover the
workplace, as well as editorial and marketing dimensions.
Due to various reasons the process could not be completed;
however, there was broad consensus within the NBC that
women make an important contribution to the diversity of
values, culture and experience, that women’s equal
representation in decision-making will enhance the
corporation ability to fully utilise the potential of all sectors
of the workforce and that therefore measures should be
implemented to promote equal opportunities at all levels
and in all occupational areas.
 The corporation is currently developing a
Framework that will guide the
monitoring of gender balance in news
items as well as in the newsmakers and
contributors used.


In March 2010 the Acting Director General of the NBC,
signed a wage agreement concluded between the Namibia
Public Workers Union (NAPWU) and the NBC in which both
parties agreed to a number of changes in the conditions of
employment.
One of these changes was that restrictions regarding paid
maternity leave would no longer apply and that maternity
leave would be applied in accordance with the terms and
conditions contemplated in the Namibian Labour Act 11 of
2007.
The wage agreement included favourable changes in the conditions of employment,
including maternity leave. Seen in the picture: Ms Yvonne Boois, former Acting NBC
Director General and Mr Peter Nevonga, Secretary General of Napwu.
The NBC supports the right of women to fair
treatment as program-makers or contributors.
 The national broadcaster also acknowledges that
the concerns of female viewers and listeners have to
be treated with the same respect and consideration
as the concerns of male audiences. However, the
formalisation of gender equality in the NBC’s
editorial policies and practices is still outstanding.



Nonetheless, the concerted efforts of NBC news and program
production staff to increase the female representation on the
airwaves are noticeable.
For example, the production staff of the TV Current Affairs
program ‘The Week That Was’ always tries to get a female
journalist on its panel. However, the number of female
editors who feel comfortable to go on air is limited. The NBC
has found five female senior journalists which the producers
of ‘The Week That Was’ rotate and invite to the program as
often as possible.
The discussion program ‘The Week That Was’ is broadcast on Sundays at 18:00.
The female journalist in the picture is Brigitte Weidlich of The Namibian.
Another current example would be the production
of special programs in celebration of the 20th
Independence Anniversary of Namibia.
 During the weeks preceding and following Namibia’s
20th Independence Day on 21 March, the Specialized
Programmes: Radio section in collaboration with all
the NBC’s radio language services broadcast
programmes focussing on the liberation struggle,
socio-economic development, the role student
movements and trade unions played prior to
independence as well as the return of exiled
Namibians to their motherland.

20 programs in total were pre-packaged which
included a feature on Paulina Nakanyala, a young
female PLAN soldier who received a President’s
medal for bravery and a 40-minute program on the
“Namibian women during the liberation struggle”.
 The latter was quite evidently well received by the
Namibian audiences because a listener sent a
congratulatory SMS message to the local English
daily “The Namibian” requesting a rebroadcast of
the program.



Another example of the NBC’s commitment to valuing
gender equality in program content is the NBC’s membership
of the African Media Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (ABMP).
The ABMP is a historic pan-African partnership of African
broadcast companies aimed at reinvigorating and increasing
the effectiveness of broadcast programming in combating
HIV/AIDS.
In terms of this commitment the NBC regularly aired
HIV/AIDS messages which focused on gender inequity as a
major factor in HIV infection.


The NBC is also proud to note that whilst it has a male
General Manager in its News & Current Affairs Division, the
vast majority of his immediate subordinates are female.
The Editor in charge of Television News is Ms Suoma
Negumbo, who in June 2009 received a staff performance
award, the Editor in charge of TV & Current Affairs is Ms
Maria Indongo-Nepaya and the Editor of the Political and
Economic Desk is Ms Saima Shaanika. Three strong ladies
who decide which stories to cover, who to cover them and
when.
Ms Maria Indongo-Nepaya recently seen handing over an Excellence Award
certificate to Ms Cornelia Mupopiwa for her outstanding work as TV News
Reporter.

Despite the fact that the majority of editors in the NBC’s
newsroom are female, there is still an imbalance both as far
as the program-makers and the contributors are concerned.
More often than not, women are portrayed in a ‘narrow’
way, reinforcing their perceived role and status in society and
far too often female journalists are confined to cover societal
issues and stories with human interest or emotional appeal,
while most male reporters cover the political and economic
stories and sports.
The table shows the local topics of the NBC TV News bulletin on Thursday, 8 April 2010,
the names of the reporters and sources, as well as the gender of both the program- and
news-makers.
The graph shows the number of female and male reporters, as well as the number of male
and female sources during the NBV TV News bulletin on 8 April 2010 (local news items
only).


The previous slides clearly show that a lot still needs to be
done at the NBC as far as gender balance in program
production and content is concerned.
However, one also has to take into account that the decision
by women journalists on which stories they prefer to cover is
sometimes also influenced by their personal interests and
talents and not only the general expectations within the
Corporation or the Public.
 In addition, when it comes to the news-
makers, the Reporters at the NBC are
sometimes faced with a lack of female
sources that are both qualified and willing to
talk about the subject matter at hand - all the
more reason for NBC to complete the process
of formalizing gender equality in its policies
The NBC is doing quite well as far as gender equality
is concerned in the remuneration, selection,
recruitment, promotion, training and transfer of
staff.
 Furthermore, the rights of women to execute their
work freely and without harassment are guaranteed
in terms of the corporation’s Sexual Harassment
Policy.

 The
NBC’s Conditions of Employment ensure
that women who are pregnant or have
recently given birth, are not financially
disadvantaged.
 The NBC is currently working on its
Occupational Health & Safety policy,
especially with regard to new and expecting
mothers



The good news is that we can all agree to the fact that
women who work hard and have the necessary qualifications
can indeed succeed in life.
I hereby urge all women in the media industry to continue
keeping their heads and knowing that only the sky is the
limit.
More importantly, I respect men in the media industry, just
like myself, who treat their female colleagues with divine
respect, the same way the Biblical Jesus treated and died for
the Church!