Kath Magrobi, the founder of feminist media non-profit Quote This Woman+ (QW+), has been honoured by the Mail & Guardian’s (M&G) Power of Women, an annual showcase of South African women making a difference in key areas of society. Magrobi was among 50 change-makers and industry influencers recognised by the M&G as making a positive, notable impact in their respective sectors of academia, agriculture, business, communities, healthcare, mining, media/telecommunications and sports.
Magrobi, 53, founded the nonprofit platform in the lead-up to the 2019 elections with the aim of correcting the imbalance of male overrepresentation in the media. Five years on, she and her small team have developed a database of about 750 women experts that journalists can contact on a variety of topics with the aim of helping to close the gender gap and giving women and marginalised people a voice in the media.
Says Magrobi: “I started Quote This Woman+ because women are significantly under-represented and stereotyped in the media, being heard only once in every five times an expert is quoted. Our platform counterbalances the effects of patriarchy, cultural norms and religious constructs that have contributed to women being disconnected from their own voices. By joining the Quote This Woman+ database, women experts, activists and thought leaders are amplifying their voices and speaking truth to power. The media becomes a conduit through which their insights, expertise and perspectives contribute to shaping policy and discourse, and this empowerment extends beyond individual boundaries fostering a media landscape that genuinely represents the richness of diverse perspectives.”
The platform has also received international recognition: more than 1,000 journalists from local and international publications such as AFP, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, The Economist, Reuters, The New York Times, and The Times of London consult the QW+ directory for nuanced perspectives and to foreground women’s voices. Earlier this year, the platform was a recipient of the Google News Initiative when it pitched for and was awarded $50,000 to improve the user experience and enhance search functionality and the protection of personal information on the QW+ database.
“I am humbled and honoured to have been named one of five winners in the 'The Networking Woman' awards category, along with Yvonne Princess Shabangu, Ntando Zikalala, Maphuti Hlako and Linathi Makanda. This honour belongs to all the phenomenal women who have put their hand up to be counted as experts in their field and to the journalists who make use of the Quote This Woman+ database to provide a more balanced, nuanced perspective, paving the way for a future where no voice is left behind.”
Magrobi is currently working with grassroots media non-profit, The Association of Independent Publishers (AIP), to raise R2 Million to close the gender gap in news reporting and strengthen community news. Later this month, both organisation's fund Look, Listen, Local: The Innovation Fund will launch in Johannesburg.
Supplied.