[hr-media] Eminent women journalists mark International Women's Day at the ILO

Breaking through the glass ceiling to break the news
Friday 7 March 2003
( ILO/03/010 )

GENEVA (ILO News) From Geneva to Baghdad, in person and via satellite,
eminent women journalists met at the International Labour Organization
(ILO) today to spotlight the role of women reporters in covering dangerous
assignments and conflicts and through this work to bring attention to the
rights of all women.

War "is not a boy's game" said Kate Adie, the award-winning reporter and
writer who as the BBC Chief News Correspondent has covered major
international crises from the Gulf War to Bosnia. "Half of the people
involved are women."

Ms. Adie was part of a panel discussion on, "Dangerous Assignments: Women
covering conflict" hosted by the ILO. The panel highlighted the situation
of women both as correspondents and civilian non-combatants in the world
today, and the special challenges facing them.

"Since the days of Eleanor Roosevelt's 'women only' press conferences
designed to force editors to hire female journalists, women have gone from
the fashion page to the front page and the front line," said ILO
Director-General Juan Somavia. "They have broken through the glass ceiling
in order to break the news and they bring a unique perspective to the
conflicts and wars that increasingly characterize our times."

The panel consisted of Ms. Adie; Christine Anyanwu, a Nigerian journalist
who served three years of a life sentence in prison in 1995 for reporting
on an alleged coup against then-Nigerian President Sani Abacha and has won
a number of press freedom prizes; Nadia Mehdid, Algeria, Foreign Editor at
Asharq Al Awsat, who was the first journalist from her newspaper to report
from Baghdad after a 10-year absence from Iraq, and the only female
journalist in its London headquarters; and Rym Brahimi of CNN, who appeared
by satellite link with Baghdad where she is on assignment.

Speaking by satellite link from the Iraqi capital, Ms. Brahimi said the
situation there was tense, especially for women. She said women were
disheartened, and were turning to religion as a means of comfort. Despite
the situation, which she termed "frightening," Ms. Brahimi said, "I didn't
do Afghanistan, but you just go on. I'm here to do a job. This is very
important."

In fact, the need for women to strive more than men in dangerous jobs is
part of the evolution of women in journalism, Ms. Adie noted, adding during
the Bosnian war she had encountered many women journalists in Sarajevo who
had expressed the feeling that they "had to be there as this is the
assignment to get. You have to run while men can walk."

The panellists agreed that, whether covering conflict and dangerous
situations or doing their daily reporting, women reporters are often
working for the rights of other women. "Women report conflict differently
from me," Ms. Adie said. "Boys like toys, but women reporters often look
for the wider issues of how society copes with conflict and attempts
reconstruction."

Ms. Anyanwu said this need to look for the wider story of women's struggles
in society was also necessary during times of peace. "After years of
reporting, I am going to establish my own radio station to create a
platform for the strong voice of women to be heard," she said. "Strong
awareness is needed, not only in Africa but all over the world on women's
issues."

Ms. Mehdid said women reporters often cover conflicts that go beyond those
usually seen as wars. These range from conflicts of perceptions of women's
role in society, to wars of information, extremists and other forms of
overt and more subtle violence aimed against women in many societies.

"We often face derogatory and narrow forms of vision, that are based on
realities limited to one culture or the other," she said.

"All these women here today find the most unsafe places to work," Mr.
Somavia said, "battlefields, hot spots and danger zones. Women continue to
transform the workplaces of the world. Still, despite increasing
opportunities, the glass ceiling remains intact and the pay gap is a reality."

According to various studies, women make up more than 40 percent of those
who prepare the news, and over half of those who present the news on
television and radio.

International Labour Organization Press release