Pakistani media industry faces “gender emergency”: WJAP, Freedom Network report
Chehra WebDesk
Pakistani media industry faces “gender emergency”:
WJAP, Freedom Network report
Islamabad – The under-representation of women
journalists in newsrooms and the lack of gender sensitive policies have forced
the Pakistani media industry into a state of gender emergency, according to a
gender audit of news organisations conducted by the Women Journalists
Association of Pakistan (WJAP) and Freedom Network.
The study titled “Unequal Newsrooms: A Gender Audit
of Pakistani Media Organisations” was launched in connection with International
Women’s Day, 8 March.
The gender audit is based on a survey of 15 news
organisations in Islamabad that provided data on workforce representation,
organisational policies, anti-harassment measures, working conditions and
wages. The audited organisations included six TV channels, four newspapers,
three news agencies and two news websites.
The audit findings reveal that the average share of
women journalists at the news outlets is only 11%. Majority of the news
organisations have no woman journalist in a leadership position.
Only two out of the 15 media houses have an
anti-harassment inquiry committee despite a federal law making it mandatory for
employers. Most media organisations do not offer paid maternity or paternity
leave even though it is now legally required.
The gender sensitivity assessment of the audit
report found that overall around 75% of the 15 news outlets were gender blind,
meaning their organisational policies and practices do not identify or address
specific gender-based issues that can affect men, women, and other gender
minorities differently at the workplace.
Fauzia Kalsoom Rana, the founder and convenor of
WJAP, said the gender audit findings should compel media managers to reflect on
the situation in their organisations.
“The male-dominated policies and practices of media
houses create additional gendered challenges for women journalists and media
workers,” she said. “Media houses should use the findings of the gender audit
to review their internal systems and implement measures to improve working
conditions for women.”
Myra Imran, WJAP advisor and Vice-president of the
National Press Club, said the poor state of gender diversity at media
organisations also affects the quality of journalism and reduces women’s access
to information.
“If there are few women in the newsrooms, then
women’s perspectives will naturally get ignored in media content,” she said.
“Media organisations should introduce gender equality at the workplace
including in leadership positions, produce more gender sensitive content, and
improve their engagement with women audiences.”
Freedom Network Executive Director Iqbal Khattak
said civil society should support the media sector to implement gender
sensitivity reforms.
“News organisations need to adopt gender equality
as a core value for meaningful change in organisational culture,” he said.
“Civil society and media development groups can help media comply with gender
protection laws and adopt best practices on gender sensitivity.”
The audit shows that urgent actions are required to
remedy the gender emergency, which discourages women from continuing
journalism, violates their legal rights in the workplace and affects the gender
diversity of media content.
The study offers recommendations for news
organisations, media managers, civil society, journalist unions and
policymakers. It suggests that news organisations should use gender equality
strategies for hirings, promotions and workplace conduct. Development
organisations should conduct capacity building training and awareness on gender
for journalists and newsrooms.
The audit recommends journalist unions to demand
transparency in contracts and wage structures and seek legal help against
publishers for violations of gender protection laws. Policymakers should take
notice of workplace sexual harassment and safety risks to women media workers,
according to the gender audit.
