This was the consensus at the Women Journalists Consultative Meeting, held in on December , 1998. It was organized by Journalists Resource Centre: Ms Ayesha Haroon, Ms. Farah Zia, Ms. Tamseela Chisti, Ms Tayyaba, Sadia Bokhari, Saqlain Imam and Aziz Mazhar participated.

The participants stressed that these problems not only hinder women journalists from performing their professional duties effectively, but also result in a fewer number of educated women opting for Journalism. Female journalists are discriminated against both at work and the outside due to the prevailing conservatism. For instance flextime jobs are not considered appropriate for women since there are social attitude of the co-workers is hyper-critical and condescending while evaluating contributions by their female colleagues. As a case in point, in the reporting section they are not given certain assignments because it is generally thought that being women they will not be able to do them well. Culture beat is thought to be the most suitable for women because it is assumed that to cover flower and painting exhibitions is within the ambit of woman journalist.

Male journalists easily establish a lot of contacts in the field but female journalists have to be very careful in demarcating boundaries for interaction. The officialdom, predominantly men, approached by a female journalist will take them non-seriously or else they start a conversation full of innuendoes and snide work and has adequate knowledge do they change their behaviour.

Laws concerning sexual harassment enacted for the safeguard of professional women often create problems for them as those who speak out in the face of repercussion may get redress from the court but then onwards they have little chance of getting a job in any other organization.

Another factor of discrimination between male and female journalists is the difference in their salary structure, that can be only rectified by the implementation of the Wage Board Award. That is despite the fact that material published in various sections of the Press show women contribution to be more than 20 per cent of the total published content although their percentage among working journalists is almost 5 per cent of the total.

Changing societal attitudes is not possible with the existing cultural backwardness. It should be acknowledged that discrimination exists and to improve upon the situation affirmative action needs to be taken. The participation of more women in the field will be beneficial, not only for the women folk but also for the men.

Suggestions

• Women journalists should unite to safeguard their interests and rights and spread awareness about these issues amongst their ranks.
• Male colleagues should also be made aware of the aforesaid problems so that the more enlightened of them can come forward and help.
• Management of the newspapers should make a note of the problems and suggestions highlighted in this report to promote a balanced work atmosphere.
• A change can only occur with the spread of awareness through constant interactive dialogue.
• Some participants thought a few women journalists exploit their gender to their advantage, which eventually ruins their professional career. Such retrogressive behavior leads to distortions in the image of a female journalist.
• Also such problems could be countered by capacity building of women journalists. Majority of the NGOs emphasize facilitation of the disadvantaged sections of the society at grass roots level alone. Whereas empowerment should be done uniformly. The working women journalists who belong to the lower middle class and middle class also need to be empowered specially since they have a greater role in building a balanced society.
• Women journalists should also be provided loan facility for getting their creative endeavors published, scholarships to go abroad for advanced courses, computer courses and for acquiring private transport.
• The situation can be improved by addressing the social problems as the prevailing social injustice also adds to the frustration among men and eventually violence against worker sections including women.

President Press Club on behalf of the Governing Body promised that a childcare centre would be provided on the Press Club premises to facilitate working journalists.