female journalist

Are women at greater risk solely because of their gender? 

It’s rightly said, “ Behind every man is a woman ” or “God made a woman to be strong and not to be trampled under the feet of men ”. If the women today can be at par with men and can work twice as hard as men by taking care of their job, their family and their house at the same time then why shouldn’t women journalist be allowed to visit a conflict zone when getting sexually assaulted is not their mistake?
After the death of male colleagues, people rarely question if men should be sent into war zones, but when women are sexually assaulted, the question is immediately asked as to whether women should report from dangerous places. Rather than questioning the freedom of sending women for her duty or worrying for their safety, editors and news organizations should focus on preparing women for the threat of sexual violence and helping them prevent it by creating awareness and educating them about the precautions to take.

In February 2011 the South African-born journalist and CBS foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan was covering events in Tahrir Square when she was brutally sustained to sexual assault and beating. Logan came out fighting, beginning a new chapter in the discussion about the safety of women journalists. She stated, “I want the world to know that I am not ashamed of what happened to me. I want everyone to know I was not simply attacked – I was sexually assaulted. This was, from the very first moment, about me as a woman. But ultimately, I was just a tool. This was about something bigger than all of us – it was about what we do as journalists. That ancient tactic of terrifying people into submission or silence.”

Rather than restricting them from going to such places, they should be provided with ways and measures to prevent this. They should be protected and not easily accessible to strange men. Some people say it’s because of the cloths a women / journalist wears that tempts tempts the attack and thus women are at fault but why if men are allowed to freely wear whatever they want and whatever they like then why should there be a restriction on women? Isn’t every human being born free? Every human being has the right to do whatever he or she want and wear whatever he or she like. Don’t they? Then why should women be told what to wear and what not to wear? Nowadays it’s not even about the cloths. In a survey no particular dressing of females has increased the rape rate. No matter what they wear or how they dress up they are still sexually assaulted. It is the responsibility of the news channel to ensure that the female reporter is safe and is provided with protection while they are on the job and the knowledge to help herself in situations like these.

In places like women refugee camps and conservative places where women are comfortable talking to only female reporters, in such situations women journalist are very necessary. It also happens that if a girl is raped she would rather be more comfortable speaking to female reporter who has gone through the same than a male reporter who will make her feel awkward. In such situations the news channel cannot avoid sending the female journalist, the journalist should be sent with proper protection for her safely. 

Fadel, who has reported from Baghdad and who won the George R. Polk Award for outstanding foreign reporting in 2007, was detained briefly by military police in Egypt earlier this month ("I suddenly found myself blindfolded and handcuffed and in jail," she said in an audio post soon after the incident). Still, she says now, preventing women from reporting on dangerous situations is not the answer. 

Milligan a journalist based in Budapest for years recalls an incident in Kosovo in 1999. "I was with two male reporters and a female translator. We saw a village being burned down, and stupidly drove to it. Then we were surrounded by super paramilitary with guns, who dragged us out and held guns to our skulls and threatened to kill us." Having both men and women in the group changed the dynamic, she says. "They were more willing to believe that we weren't soldiers or part of a movement. It was good to have a mixed group. I think that's why we got out of there alive." 

As Milligan said men and women should be sent together to avoid situations like these.

I truly believe that preventing a female journalist from going to conflict places is not right. Agreed that there are many risks involved, nobody made Lara Logan go to Egypt. Yes, reporting in a war zone is risky. But it's a risk that we choose to take because it's an important part of democracy, telling people what's going on.

-Rhea Khanna