Getting the balance right: gender equality in journalism; 2009 - Fokus

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from poor work practice can go unaddressed for years unless properaction is taken. Journalists’ safety can cover everything from dangersfaced by war correspondents, to poor lighting in employees’ car parksor loose wiring around the office. In some countries there are battlesto be fought even to get toilet facilities for women.Flexible work allows a person to complete a number of works (evento a deadline) but within working hours that suit. This allows greaterflexibility for both parents to spend more time caring for the family.Job-sharing is where two or more people cover the tasks of one fulltimejob. This can be done either by splitting the tasks so that eachperson does their own part, or by both being responsible for completingthe same sort of tasks.The ILO Part-Time Work Convention promotesaccess to part-time work and states that measures shall be taken toensure equal treatment for part-time and comparable full-time workers,including participation at the workplace; occupational health and safety;discrimination in employment and occupation; hourly basic wagerates; statutory social security schemes; maternity leave; termination ofemployment; paid annual leave; public holidays and sick leave.ILO Maternity convention 183 entitles all women to a minimum 14weeks paid maternity leave. If your country has ratified convention183, national legislation should be in place to provide for this andalso guarantee the right to return to work to the same or equivalentposition. Mothers can claim breaks to breast feed their baby.Crèches and after-school childcare for young children until school age,and in some cases after school care may be subsidized, or partiallypaid for by governments and/or employers. It is often income related.Late-night shift assignments should be compensated by late-nighttransport home for women and men. Such provision should beclearly indicated in media houses policies.Dignity at work clauses help to combat bullying, harassment anddiscrimination faced by many in high-pressure newsrooms and mediacompanies. It is essential to find agreement on what constitutes8 GENDER EQUALITY IN JOURNALISM
acceptable behaviour at work, and to introduce clear procedures todeal with complaints and disciplinary action. The procedures mustbe carefully drawn up to protect the victim as well as the rights of theaccused. Workshops on bullying and harassment in the work placecan be very effective in raising awareness of the problem among yourcolleagues and encouraging victims to take measures to confront andresolve the situation before it is necessary to resort to formal procedures.Sexual harassment is often difficult to raise and to prove. Do not feelguilty, do not ignore the problem and keep records of when, where andhow harassment occurs. Try to enlist the help of witnesses, get supportfrom colleagues and friends, who may also have been victims. Speakto your union representative for advice if you need to file a complaint.EQUAL PAY CASE STUDY UK and IrelandThe National Union of Journalists in the UK and Ireland (NUJ) has long foughtfor the right to equal pay. Indeed the first equal pay case was won in 1918 whenwomen journalists working on national newspapers in London won pay parity withtheir male colleagues. Unfortunately even in 2009 the national equal pay gap is stillaround 17%. The union recently set up a campaign, via the union website (www.nuj.org.uk) to highlight equal pay successes and to encourage members to takeup the issue in their own workplaces. The website pages contain a combination ofsuccess stories, practical information and activity suggestions, including an equalpay tool kit, which aims to persuade members who feel they have an equal payclaim to raise these with their managements and union colleagues and to provideunion representatives with the arguments to put to their managements.Amongst the practical information and suggestions in the web campaignon equal pay, also include a short questionnaire designed for workplacerepresentatives to use to obtain information from members about their pay andwhether they are suspicious that they are a victim of the equal pay gap. This wassuccessfully used by union members at the Independent newspaper. More than 30responses were received which the union has analysed to identify pay disparities.Lena Calvert, Equality officer, NUJGENDER EQUALITY IN JOURNALISM9
Page 2 and 3: Publisher information: Internationa
Page 4 and 5: FOREWORDThe designation of gender e
Page 6 and 7: PREFACEOne of the greatest challeng
Page 8 and 9: “[Gender equality] does not mean
Page 10 and 11: Journalism is no exception. Inside
Page 12 and 13: While statistics show that more and
Page 14 and 15: High stress levels, bullying andhar
Page 18 and 19: AVOIDING SEXUAL ABUSE OF WOMEN REPO
Page 20 and 21: Sarah Rainsford reporting for the B
Page 22 and 23: The GMMP says that womenare more li
Page 24 and 25: (A good check is to ask yourself if
Page 26 and 27: IFJ Guidelines for reportingon viol
Page 28 and 29: Fariba Khani, Social Desk Reporter,
Page 30 and 31: Women in journalists’ unions (IFJ
Page 32 and 33: Learn about women rights that exist
Page 34 and 35: join a union if women issues are ta
Page 36 and 37: GENDER MAINSTREAMING“Mainstreamin
Page 38 and 39: Push for gender equality provisions
Page 40 and 41: Camerawoman at the 1 st Congress of
Page 42 and 43: Who Makes the News?Global Media Mon
Page 44 and 45: http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/c
Page 46 and 47: International Federation of Journal
Page 48 and 49: Institute for the Advancement of ab
Page 50 and 51: Harassment may be characterised as:
Page 52 and 53: Formal ProcedureAt any time, whethe
Page 54 and 55: ANNEXE BIFJ GENDER POLICIESPASSED A
Page 56 and 57: with employers; consultation rights
Page 58 and 59: to make it a top priority of the IF

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