#WDDW: Standing firm, fighting for representation

Pakistan's media has endured several years of brutal job cuts and too often women are the first to see the door. Now, many women journalists are choosing a life of freelancing or digital media futures over male-dominated, discriminating newsrooms, writes Sheema Siddiqui.

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Women in media are too often the first target of the downsizing that has impacted much of Pakistan's media industry. Forced removal from jobs, unequal wages and obstacles to promotion are some of the more important issues to address while discussing women's experience working in the in Pakistan media industry. Fakhra* a freelance journalist from Lahore and editor of her own website remains hopeful for slow but gradual development of gender policy in the Pakistani media. Discussing the work environment, harassment on the job and a broad scale lack of gender policy in most media organizations, she describes the working environment for women as dire.

"The media industry of Pakistan is in crisis and the least important staff while planning downsizing are women," she said. "Management have excuses like 'We can't afford salaries, the budget is very low, we have no advertisement revenue etc', but unfortunately most of our media owners have side businesses.' What she is referring to, is that the "side business" is usually an extension of the key business interest, with the media company there to protect private interests or build favour or political power or pull. "So the result is we have not a friendly or professional environment and there is only a minor space allocated for women in most organizations."

On the forced removal or disappearance of women journalists in the current era of a freefalling media industry, she shares her personal experience. In 2018 when she worked at a high-profile media house in Lahore, some employees of the outlet were facing forced removal. When she raised her voice for them on social media, she too was kicked out of her job.

"The next day when I went to my office I was stopped at the gate of office by a security guard. That was a decision-making moment to leave for home silently and search for a new job or stand strong," she said. "I started a solo sit-in in front of that office. I was scolded, threatened but I decided to stand for my right. Many people supported me but those days taught me so many lessons - like that men in media have more fear of losing jobs, so they prefer to stay silent when their colleagues are in trouble. Everyone was avoiding me to mark themselves in a safe zone."

The result of her stand was that she never got job in any mainstream media house again, but she didn't give up. She continued to work as freelancer, in the social sector and ultimately started her own website.

"I never lost hope for women in media," she says. "I believe our struggles are not useless. We can't achieve all at once but yes tomorrow must be better then yesterday."

Fakhra's perceptions reconcile with the Women's Media Forum Pakistan (WMFP) mapping and research, which has highlighted how women are losing jobs or shifting to freelancing or independent digital media where the conditions and opportunities are more favourable.

In 2023, mapping of media in Punjab found unofficial and off the record information that big organisations like DAWN News, HUM News, Express News and Dunya News had no female staff working in field. While smaller organisations, newspapers, and digital media houses continued to employee women staff, but on lower wages.

As freelancers or contract workers, women working in the media regularly try to make connections with each other via workshops, trainings and via union and press clubs - but even in the latter they are not highly represented in terms of the membership figures and the waiting lists for women remain high for press clubs.

Sana* a broadcast journalist from Lahore switched from mainstream media to digital media because she was being blocked from working on hard news or core stories. She also faced character assassination from some of her female colleagues.

"I used to feel suffocated in traditional media where my character was constantly questioned by some female journalists as well as male colleagues," she said.

WMFP and IFJ and other women's associations have highlighted the urgent need to analyse women journalists' working environment and the issue of low wages. This includes the importance of developing a strategy that allows women to speak without fear.

While men at media houses also face many issues, the opportunities for women journalists are a key sticking point for the future of the industry if it has any hope to improve the gender representation of women creating news and telling stories to more equitably reflect society.

Across the industry, there is a general negative perception that is promulgated - that women, especially married women, are not suitable for a media job.

Fakhra agrees that the issue goes beyond discrimination. "Whenever we attend a workshop the women's issues raised, like work environment and transport issues, seems too narrow or childish. After 10 to 15 years of experience in the industry, I can say that what bothers us is our daily wages, equal rights, admission of our efficiency at work. Position, salary and space, everything matters! But we need to appreciate women who are struggling to capture space with all the mentioned hurdles."

Big Media houses like GEO, ARY, NEO and 92 etc are among those trying to implement harassment policies and gender approaches to creating more equity, but that only happens because of pressure not a serious or ambitious effort, Fakra said.

"We have so many educated and capable women in our industry who are not only struggling in mainstream media, but also grabbing opportunities in digital media. Media houses have no training strategies for women journalists yet the civil society and social sectors are doing countless efforts for training women through workshops and fellowships," she said.

She believes that proactive and more advanced media outlets can develop a great gender policy, particularly also if they consider women in the decision-making process within newsrooms as editors and other senior roles.

"If we compare with the situation a few years back, women were not accepted at any position, then they got a space in the form of 'lady reporter' only to cover the women and children segment of society," she said. "Today the situation is much better and many women journalists are working in key beats like politics, parliament reporting, court reporting and coverage of national and international level stories."

The IFJ is working with WMFP and unions to develop model gender policies and encouraging the implementation of required policies including sexual harassment.

*Names of interviewees and their websites have been changed to protect identities.

This blog is part of a campaign marking World Day for Decent Work on October 7 by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Women's Media Form Pakistan (WMFP), addressing issues for women in media in Pakistan.

Published

08 October 2024

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