WUNRN
Female journalists stay at home or change profession because of attacks.
By Shapoor Saber in Herat (ARR No. 323, 24-June-09)
Khadija
Ahadi used to be the most active journalism student in town. At press
conferences in Herat, she would always be there with her video camera, usually
the only woman in the room. Nobody was surprised that she landed a job as the
deputy editor-in-chief of Radio Faryad after her studies. But now her
successful career has suddenly been stopped – by force.
“Some men threatened me because I am a reporter, but initially I kept working
and I didn’t tell my family because they would have stopped me,” said Ahadi,
32. “Then one day they threw two grenades in my house. I have not gone to work
since.’’
Although Herat is the most developed and secure province of Afghanistan after
Kabul, very traditional views on the role of women in society persist. Women
are struggling to make an appearance in public life.
Ahadi is not the only woman journalist with problems. Those who graduate from
the journalism department of Herat University also face violent resistance when
they start working. The situation is so bad that an increasing number of women
reporters stay at home or change profession.
They all know about Nilofar Habibi, the former newsreader on Herat’s state-run
radio and television station. Last year, men cut her in the arm with a razor
blade and threatened to kill her if she appeared on television again. Shortly
thereafter, a woman came to the house of the 22-year-old journalist and stabbed
her in the stomach.
Habibi survived, but only by fleeing the country. With the help of media
watchdog Reporters Without Borders, she went to Qatar. Now she is studying in
France, according to her former boss Hassamoddin Shams. Habibi’s family doesn’t
want to talk about their daughter to the media for fear that it will again
attract attention from her attackers.
It is considered shameful for a woman to be working outside the home, explained
Associate Professor Mohammad Dawood Munir, who is a lecturer at the faculty of
literature of Herat University, “Especially if the daughter of a family appears
on television.”
Attacks such as the ones against Ahadi and Habibi are often ascribed to the
Taleban, because of their severe restrictions on women during their repressive
rule of the country in the late 1990s. But other groups, including Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami forces, or just conservative local vigilantes, have
also been known to carry out acts of violence.
Munir and others also say a lack of security creates a difficult environment
for female journalists to work in.
The window that opened up for women to become journalists after the fall of the
Taleban regime is already closing again. Only 15 out of 54 female students who
graduated in the last four terms at the department of journalism of Herat
University are now actually working in the media, said Bashir Ahmad Bahrowan,
who lectures at the journalism department. ”That is a worrisome score,” he
said.
”Although there are 11 local radio stations, five television stations and more
than 40 newspapers operating in Herat, the number of female practitioners is
low,” said Niamattullah Sarwari, the director of Herat’s department of
information and culture.
Emam Mohammad Warimach, an official at the Afghan Journalism Centre in Herat,
told IWPR that he had not been able to employ even one female journalist.
Sharafuddin Stanekzai, from the Journalists’ Support Committee in Herat, is
very concerned about the difficulties that women face; female journalists have
a much rougher time than their male colleagues, he said.
However, added Stanekzai, the authorities don’t always take their cases
seriously. He pointed to two incidents with female reporters in which
provincial security officials accused the journalists of lying.
In the face of such challenges, most of the female journalism graduates prefer
to become teachers. “Security conditions are not good enough in Herat for a
woman to go and gather news outside her office,” said Basira Ghafoori, who
became a teacher after graduating from Herat University’s department of
journalism. Another graduate student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said
she left journalism because the people in her area didn’t like her being a
reporter.
For those who struggle to continue in their profession, the future doesn’t
appear bright. ‘’When I go out of the office to report on social issues in
Herat, men on the street insult me,” said reporter Shukriya Noorzayee. “This
kind of behaviour makes it difficult for women to work in journalism.”
Ahadi still looks back on the happy times when she was presenting live
programmes on Radio Faryad, times when she didn’t care what other people said
about her. Although she has not managed to open doors for women reporters as
she would have liked, and has been forced to stay at home herself, she has
hope.
“I am optimistic,” she said. ‘’Nobody thought the Taleban regime would collapse
and women could go out of their homes and work, but it has happened. Now I hope
that the day will come when I can get out of my home and resume my work without
fear.’’
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