The women journalists of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the merged districts, have decided to form Women Journalist Network to raise voice for their rights from a single platform.
In this regard, the maiden meeting of women journalists Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was held in Peshawar on Saturday in which women journalists hailing from merged tribal districts were also invited. Senior journalists Nasreen Jabeen, Naheed Jahangir, Samina Naz, Khalida Niaz, Asma Baseer, Saba Rani, Qandi Safi, Salma Jahangir, blogger Bushra Mehsud, citizen journalist Jemima Afridi and others attended the meeting.
Naheed Jahangir and Khalida Niaz, who floated the idea of Women Journalist Network, thanked TNN for providing a platform for the Network. They said there was not a single platform for women journalists of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from where they can raise their voice for their rights and work for the resolution of their problems. They said the Network plans to gather all the women journalists under a single umbrella and also arrange training for them and work for their rights and resolve their problems. They said the Network will also work on improving the coverage of women’s related problems and improving the representation of women in the media. They invited all the women journalists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to join the Network so that their issues can be raised in an effective manner.
Participants of the meeting said the establishment of the Network was inevitable because women journalists are facing a lot of problems and no one is serious in resolving their issues. Nasreen Jabeen said all the member women journalists will have to work selflessly to make the Network successful.
Asma Baseer said she is working in the media for the last several years, but she hasn’t got recognition as a working journalist yet. She said she is happy to join the Network and make her presence felt.
Saba Rani said very few women have joined the field of journalism in KP and they are not getting the encouragement in the field and their jobs are not safe. She hoped that the Network will raise voice for working women journalists.
Samina Naz said women journalists also face harassment at workplace. She said when she raised voice against harassment, instead of helping her, people blamed her for being problematic. She said the Network will work for protecting women journalists against harassment.
