Mail & Guardian reporter
An incident of ugly on-air sexism on the Afrikaans commercial radio station, Punt Geselsradio, has ended on a happy note. The manne at the station have agreed to write a gender policy and to take lessons from organisations that have offered to train them in gender sensitivity.
“We subscribe to an overrall policy of non-sexism, non-racism and non-violence,” the station said in a letter to the lobby group, Womens Media Watch, which had been the first port-of-call for a listener angry about on-air jokes. During a talk programme hosted by presenter Rian van Heerden a caller phoned in to tell a joke, asking: “How do you know when your wife is dead?” The punchline: “Well, nothing much changes but the dishes mount up.”
Van Heerden rose to the occasion, telling one of his own. “What do you say to a woman with two black eyes?” And the sick punch-line: “Nothing, you’ve spoken twice already.”
Media Watch representative Gabrielle le Roux says: “A presenter cannot be held responsible for what his or her callers say. We felt strongly that the first joke should not have been laughed at and certainly not bettered.”
Complaints were laid with the Commission for Gender Equality and the Independent Broadcasting Authority, which referred it to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission.
The station’s management pointed out that the one incident should not blight a schedule that features many women and programming in touch with the everyday lives of its female listeners. The women got airtime on the station to state their views while its management apologised to listeners who may have been offended.