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Women: International
A publication of IFJ.
women to follow in their footsteps.
“Without Najma Babar I would not
have stuck with journalism,” says Beena
Sarwar, editor of The News on Sunday
in Pakistan. “She was my role model
when I started at The Star in 1982. She
was not only a real professional but she
also put women’s issues on the news
agenda. Without her, the story of trafficking
of women from Burma and
Bengal would never have been covered.”
Angela Castellanos, a freelance journalist
from Colombia, observes that
“courageous women reporters have
made real inroads into a profession
characterized by machismo. But we
have paid a high price for recognition.
Last year, two female journalists were
killed, 11 were threatened with murder,
three had to seek exile abroad,
and one was kidnapped and tortured.”
That journalist was Jineth Bedoya, a
27-year-old journalist working for El
Espectador who was kidnapped, tortured
and raped by paramilitary groups.
In spite of her ordeal, Bedoya stills
works in journalism. She says she was
lucky to have the support of her editor:
“Normally in Colombia there is no support
for rank-and-file journalists, only
for the famous ones.”
But it takes more than a few pioneers
to make a real difference in dismantling
the barriers that women journalists
confront. The role of journalists’
unions is crucial in defending the professional
and material interests of their
female members as well as helping to
create structures in which women can
reach their full potential in the profession.
As the number of women in journalism
grows, so does their membership
in journalists’ unions. In several
countries in North America and Latin
America there are more female than
male union members (around 55 percent).
And the percentage of women in
union governing bodies (17 percent)
is higher than of women in decisionmaking
in the media in general.
But for journalists’ organizations to
take up these issues, they often have to
reform their structures to ensure female
representation in the unions’
policymaking and governing bodies.
One way to increase the involvement
of women is to create specific structures,
such as women’s committees or
equality councils, to give women’s concerns
a voice in the union. “It is thanks
to the equality council that parental
leave or day care have become key
demands in collective bargaining,” says
Karin Bernhardt of the German Journalists’
Association (DJV). “These issues
used to be bargaining chips to be
dropped off the list of demands in
favor of higher salaries. The work of
women inside the union has helped to
make employers and male colleagues
see that extended parental leave can be
much more important than a few dollars
more in the purse.”
But so far less than half of the unions
surveyed by the IFJ have established
women’s committees or councils. The
highest number is in Africa, where
women’s media associations have been
created in most countries. These associations
operate independently of the
journalists’ unions but are normally
affiliated with them. “The women media
association has become an effective
network for women journalists,” says
Khady Cisse, who is also a member of
Percentage of Unions With Specific Structures for Women Journalists
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
33
35
IFJ has explored the role of journalists’ unions in defending the professional and material
interests of their female members.
37.5
Asia-Pacific Europe Americas Africa
% of specific structures for women in the unions
42
98 Nieman Reports / Winter 2001