Upendo FM Institutional profile

We are gender-oriented –Upendo Radio

Elinami Kusirie Shoni is soft spoken and passionate about both her job and gender issues. She emphasised that Upendo Radio, where she serves as Assistant News Editor, is the quintessential gender-oriented media house. The score card she reels out bears testimony to this. “In Upendo radio, gender is balanced because in management we have equal opportunities for females and males, and priority is given to women in every section. We have females and males in the studio section, management and in all other positions. More priority is given to women. There is no sexual harassment; in short, I can say there is gender balance in Upendo Radio.”

Continuing, she said that there are equal numbers of males and females in the management team, as presenters as well as marketing and advertising executives. The gender and social consciousness that informs their outlook ensures equal representation of male and female voices in the news. Priority attention is also given to females within the media house. “In our advert, we used to say that women are encouraged to apply, and if there are competent women and men, women are given more priority than men. Due to our gender education, we believe that when women are given a chance, they can work harder than men”, Shoni stressed.

Shikunze Zenzulaponga, who is a male presenter, corroborated Shoni’s views. He is of the opinion that “it is normal in Upendo Radio. We have gender balance in the sense that among the employees there are men and there are women, and as you can see our manager is a woman and the assistant is a man. We have subordinates who are ladies and men as well. In other words, there exists a good working relationship between both genders.
Shoni attributes the gender consciousness and fair treatment of members of staff to workshops and seminars by Gender Links, Gender and Media Sothern Africa -Tanzania (GEMSAT) as well as those organized in-house.