
On 27th March 2018 our first workshop took place in Mogadishu in Jazeera Hotel from 9am in the morning till 1pm.
There was a number of ten journalists women and fifteen directors from different media houses namely; SNTV, SAAB TV, RADIO MUSTAQBAL,UNIVERSAL TV,KULMIYE,GOOBJOOG,ERYAL TV,RADIO DANAN,FRELENCE,SAHAL RADIO,RADIO ERGO,NUSOJ.
The event was opened with a word of prayer by one of the members seconded by the chairperson of Somali Women Journalist who did the welcoming and introduction to the topic of the workshop. The field was opened to the crowd present.
There was an identification on how sexual exploitation takes place in media houses and what can be done for the ladies to speak up so as their voices can be considered. In the discussion ways on how that act is practiced has been mentioned whereby one of the women journalist mentioned that nowadays its done in a way the lady does not realize she is been trapped in that act. She said that before it used be like when the lady comes to the offices seeking work, she used to be asked directly to sell her dignity for her to get the position. In the past few years its done in a way whereby the lady is welcomed, employed then later on asked whether she can join the team dinner nights and chill, she is pushed to change her behavior for her to hold on to her position at work and may be the lady has no other source of income or she has the passion for her work thus giving the room to her boss or the person in charge. In that case the lady can’t speak because of the culture for she is going to be a disgrace in the society and family pressure leading her to quit the work.
In the discussion the directors and journalist had a serious head to head on views that there was a change in the percentage of how sexual harassment is exploited. Most of the journalist did not agree that there was a change but mentioned that the means of approach and change in the society took place in the past few years. There was an agreementbetween the directors and the journalists which was partially an achievement at the same time it somehow gives a room to sexual exploitationthatsometimes back the journalist women never used to interact with men due to the dominance of the culture thus in one point the men had no access to approach the ladies but now that there is diversification in the media houses the men got the chance to misuse the opportunity.
The situation is not like before, for example one of the journalist shared one scenario that she came across whereby one of her boss in the media tried to show interest in her and dirty approaches like if she doesn’t give in she would loose her job but she stepped forward and presented it to the other group in the management department. She confirmed that the management took a step of demoting him from his position and ten days detention for he asked for forgiveness from the lady and board of directors.
In the end of the discussion there was group discussions divided into three groups of seven to eight between the journalists and the directors to get action points and next steps on how to decrease such actions and behaviors in the media houses.
- The strongest point discussed and brought forward was to; Draft contracts for the media houses that shows and brings forward the agreement between the employer and the employee for most of the media houses don’t have such, the furthest they reached so far is done verbally which is not helpful.
- Specific laws to be set if such situations happen in the media houses.
- The crowd suggested such awareness like the one held for them to take place frequently to support the women journalist to get a chance to express themselves
- The ladies to also build their trust in themselves, knowledge and show their capability.
- Considering the female journalist in the HR departments other than the marketing and finance sectors which exposes them a lot.
- Short training’s to be done for the female journalists to build their confidence and encouragement.
It has been such an interactive meeting for the group that was present and a way of sharing opinions and the way forward to handle and deal with such situations and a way of passing information to the society out there for our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
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