At major women’s rights meeting, Asia-Pacific women journalists voice concerns about workplace bias and safety

Author: John Krich

Sushmita S Preetha of The Daily Star in Dhaka, Bangladesh reads out the “manifesto” at the Beijing+30 press conference at United Nations Conference Centre on 21 November 2024. Photo: UN Women/Pathumporn Thongking

Bangkok, Thailand -- They came to report on a big story. Then they became part of the story themselves.

A group of 24 women journalists who covered the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on the Beijing+ 30 Review in Bangkok from 19 to 21 November brought public attention to their own concerns as professionals at workplaces often unwelcoming to women.

The journalists from 12 countries in the region read out a draft “joint manifesto” at the event’s closing press conference with Christine Arab, Regional Director of UN Women for the Asia-Pacific, and Srinivas Tata, Director of Social Development Division of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

“We call for bold action to increase the representation of women at all levels of the media industry, including leadership and decision-making roles, with a particular emphasis on the inclusion of historically marginalized groups,” the manifesto said.

“Our priorities include ensuring both online and offline safety and security of women journalists and journalists from gender-diverse communities, while fostering enabling, gender-inclusive workplaces.”

The Bangkok conference of more than a thousand participants assessed the progress and challenges in the 30 years since the global adoption of the landmark women’s rights agreement, the Beijing Declaration and Action Plan of Action.

A 2020 survey by the Reuters Institute of Journalism found that only 23 of 162 top editors throughout Asia were women. A 2015 report by UN Women found disparity of pay between the sexes and said that only 24 per cent of media organizations had any kind of gender-sensitive policies.

The journalists at the Bangkok conference, including one who said she was the lone woman newspaper journalist in the Marshall Islands, talked about their concerns in interviews with UN Women.

A leader of the manifesto effort along with UN Women, Sushmita S Preetha of The Daily Star in Dhaka, Bangladesh said the journalists were speaking out because “women and the media” was one of the “12 critical areas of concern” named in the Beijing Declaration.

“There hasn’t been enough focus on ensuring women's representation in the media or in creating gender-responsive newsrooms,” Preetha said. “Most media houses remain male-dominated, especially at the higher tiers, and are toxic and alienating for women.

“We need to create enabling environments and gender-sensitive support systems, including safer transport at night, day-care centres, complaint mechanisms for sexual harassment and flexible timings, in addition to capacity-building initiatives and training for women staff. We are also noticing an alarming trend of digital violence against female journalists, with many even receiving death and rape threats, which needs to be addressed.”

A sampling of opinions from the journalists suggested that they viewed their manifesto as an important first step for generations of women to help in saving many careers cut short and stories left unreported due to gender bias in Asia’s newsrooms.

Longtime reporter Myra Azam of The News in Islamabad, Pakistan said that when she formed a women’s journalism association and 50 people joined, she was subjected to insults and rumours that she was taking money from the Embassy of the United States of America.

“Twelve journalists were killed in our country this year. Yet the only women in higher positions in media are daughters of the owners,” she said.

Manika Jha, of Annapurna Post’s Dhanusa District bureau, Madhesh Province in southeastern Nepal, said that, “Our safety, and security concerns make us  much more vulnerable when we are out in the field to collect news stories. Unfortunately, these things are never brought up in the discussion.

“Even women editors in the newsroom don’t understand our struggle.”

Many of the journalists expressed concern that while they are promoting women’s rights at established news organizations, the media landscape is shifting to social media, where they said the treatment of workers is more difficult to monitor and violence against women is regularly propagated.

The 24 journalists said that since they come mostly  from urban, educated backgrounds, they would first hold consultations in their countries to ensure the manifesto reflected the voices of women journalists in diverse situations. They plan to present the manifesto at the global Beijing+ 30 commemoration in New York on Women’s Day on 8 March, and hold dialogues on their concerns on World Press Freedom Day on 3 May. They asked the United Nations to support their efforts.

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