International Women’s Day: Being a Woman and a Journalist

On the International Women’s Day, March 8, Reporters without Borders used the opportunity to highlight the job of ten journalist women, who fight day by day for the freedom of speech, some of them – under direct death threat. Just because they are women, their job is much more difficult in some regions.

In 2015, we extend our tribute to ten of the most prominent female journalists:

Physical security is still a challenge for Zaina Erhaim, who is in charge of a network of journalists in the North of Syria.

Farida Nekzad from Afghanistan is the founder of Wakht News Agency (founded in 2008). She is the president of the Media Commission in Afghanistan. She has won several international prizes.

Hla Hla Htay is a correspondent of Agence France Presse in Myanmar. She has covered several revolutions in the region.

Marcela Turati is a freelance journalist who works at Proceso Magazine in Mexico. Mexico is still one of the most unsafe countries in the world for journalists.

Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani in Iran and Mae Azango in Liberia testify abuse and problems that they both face as women every day. Both are pioneers in fighting for women’s rights in their countries.

Khadija Ismayilova is a leading investigative journalist in Azerbaijan. She has been in jail several times.
Brankica Stanković, Serbian journalist, has been threatened repeated times. She is in charge of Insajter, a media outlet dealing with investigative journalist.

Solange Lusiku Nsimire is the only female journalist in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is in charge of a national newspaper in the capital city. She has been refused the right to be part of local government.

Fatima Al Ifriki, Moroccan journalist, decided to quit journalism to protect her family. Currently she works at Freedom Now, an NGO advocating for the freedom of speech.

According to the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media published by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), over half of the journalist women confirmed that they had been bullied, insulted and abused sexually while doing their job. One fifth of the women interviewed had also been exposed to physical violence. According to the report, just a few of them reported such acts.