Key challenges of women journalists in Pakistan – A book of testimonies

By Adnan Rehmat, IMS programme manager, Islamabad, Pakistan

Less than five per cent of the estimated 20,000 journalists in Pakistan are women, according to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists.

There are reasons for this. The working conditions for journalists in general are far from ideal – Pakistan is one of the deadliest countries to practice journalism, as annual press freedom and safety indexes in recent years prove – but women in media face additional challenges; ranging from harassment from colleagues to social and cultural constraints.

As this book of testimonies from about 50 female journalists from across Pakistan amply prove, everyday life in journalism is not easy. Women working in media in Pakistan are as likely to be threatened for their journalism work in the field to persistent sidelining and persecution in the office, according to these testimonies.

What these testimonies reveal is an ongoing story of threats, harassment and rejection. In recent years the expanding media space in Pakistan may have provided opportunities for women to join up in greater numbers but the space for women in current affairs, which influences policy, is not easy to capture and retain due to policies in practice that do not encourage women in leadership positions. The result: even as media pluralism have multiplied, the voices and perspectives of women in the world of news and opinion have not increased in the same proportion.

This book is not a research book. It simply asks questions to journalists about their everyday life in journalism, but it is the hope of Freedom Network and International Media Support that this book will help promote a better understanding of Pakistan’s women journalism practitioners.

It is a hope that these courageous testimonies – offering input from across the country as well as from seasoned journalists to those new to the trade – will serve as a wake-up call and inspire change and urgency in addressing these serious challenges. Pakistani women journalists deserve much better. More power to them!

The book has been produced by Freedom Network – a Pakistani civil liberties group working on freedom of expression and access to information issues, with support from International Media Support