'List of obstacles faced by women in media long'

The chair, which is considered conducive to the consolidation of research in the UAE and the region, also serves as a means of facilitating collaboration between high-level, internationally-recognised researchers and teaching staff of the college and other institutions in the UAE and the Arab region, according to Reem Obeidat, holder of the Unesco chair for Communication Technology and Journalism.

Reem told The Gulf Today that talking about the lack of female presence in the media is one thing and helping women crack that glass ceiling is something else. "The Unesco Chair in UAE has made inroads in changing the status of women in media," she added.

The short experience of the Unesco Chair provided excellent examples of what can be achieved in establishing strong women's networks within the media.

"We became a vital source and reference to all the international organisations concerned in women and media issues," she said.

Reem affirmed that the chair media programmes endeavour to help women to overcome the social barriers that prevent them from taking up media jobs.

"The challenge for us is to put an end to the social taboo related to women taking up jobs in media," she stated.

The chair is also playing a key role in promoting and encouraging women to handle media jobs in print, TV and radio.

"Our programme will also support initiatives that develop the women's role in media by promoting their right to work. Our next step will be to launch a media club in one of the schools here to give girls an insight into media," she added.

Different themes

Reem said the chair works on different themes every year. "I request new proposals for programmes within the theme, strive to avoid separate approaches in their methodology and work on projects with socially-meaningful themes," she said.

"So far, the chair has launched several initiatives such as a three-day training conference titled "Women empowerment in media through IT" which aims to bridge the gap between men and women through IT; the annual "Press freedom day" event."

"This gives a rare opportunity for government, journalists and academics to put their heads together to discuss various key issues," Reem pointed out.

Such events have provided an opportunity to take matters forward, she added.

Moreover, many video conferences, seminars and sessions were held in co-operation with the American embassy as the theme for the academy year 2004-2005 was "Promoting reading among students."

The theme of the academy year 2005-2006 is "Media role in covering natural and human-made catastrophes."

Therefore a one-day conference will be held on Feb.22 which will be presented by a female director. "So far, we have not been into a specific personality yet."

Such work, according to Reem, implies ever more effective control of the means of establishing the quality of what was being produced, of resources and relations with the environment such as holding training programmes that take students' activities in society into account.

"The Unesco Chair for Communication Technology and Journalism has undoubtedly helped women journalists take big strides towards their advancement, in knowledge, experience, expertise and working conditions," she said.

Women's rights

Reem affirmed that the Unesco Chair is keeping women's rights on top of their agenda since many issues remain unresolved.

"The list of obstacles faced by women who want to get ahead in journalism is long. Working conditions in any media organisation seem to be more or less the same -- long hours, deadlines, working on national holidays without due additional payments. In other words it is a demanding but unrewarding job," she said, adding that "Child care facilities and maternity leave are still not a right in most media organisations set in the Arab World."

Furthermore, the Unesco Chair Programme aims to work with other agencies, NGOs and foundations.

"Inter-agency co-operation will be pursued systematically as a means of making action more effective," said Reem.

However, these goals are still far from reach due to the lack of funds. "There is a deep need to streamline interactions across networks and partners, and to clarify the role, obligations, expectations and reciprocity between Unesco and relevant departments, as a way to reduce the gap and enable the Chair to access funds from local, regional and international sources," she pointed out.

Stating that private sector funding can compromise the direction of the chair's projects, Reem said that the chair is keen on protecting project credibility while actively seeking the private sector funding.

Being the only Unesco Chair that is totally devoted to promoting women and journalism in the Arab region, Obeidat called for more sponsors to join their projects in order to help them achieve their short and long-term goals.

Despite all these challenges, DWC Unesco Chair topped the list of the most active Unesco Chairs worldwide.