On 23rdApril 2018 the topic was very wide and sensitive that brought together the directors, editors and the journalists.
It was opened with a word of prayer followed by the opening of the chairperson of Somali women Journalists to welcome the participants that came off their busy schedules.
In the human resource review, it has been mentioned that there are no contracts written that the journalists sign in with the employee before joining the media group but its done orally. There is a short written contract for the volunteers that work for 3 months which restricts the upcoming journalist a lot for it has been mentioned that there is no off day they get those three moths and are misused for bulky work.
The only written document the journalist come across is the policy of the media house when joining the group.
One of the journalist shared that in a certain media she was working with broke the policy whereby she got sick and without her been informed she was fired even after she stated the reason she was away within those days and didn’t even consider giving her the salary she deserved for the former month she worked. She added too even after trying to report and following up her rights not being considered no actions were taken against the certain media house.
There was an argument between the participants on salary range. Some of them mentioned that the men are paid more believing that they do more work compared to the ladies while the majority of the crowd mentioned that the ladies actually do a lot of work and are paid less.
In the promotion sector there was an agreement mentioned that it’s hard for the ladies to be promoted from their positions believing that the ladies are used to the specific work they do in the each and every category they hold on to but instead they are awarded by the management.On that point the woman journalist mentioned only awards were not enough for their appreciation but needed to see a progress of their work and to see themselves in different positions in the coming years.
There was an agreement that all the journalist mentioned for there is no salary increment that takes place and no bonuses too.
Group discussions were formed to get the solutions on how to tackle the problem or what can be done to get at least a way to handle. It has been mentioned;
- Awareness
- The ladies to build their knowledge so that they can be considered in the higher positions of the media sectors for “educating a woman is like educating a whole society”
- To produce a Gender Respect Declaration for the media house and media workers.
- To form a committee of women journalists and media managers implementing the Gender Respect Declaration.
The crowd believed the solutions should be put into consideration for it will play a big role in their respective roles in the media groups.
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