In Bangladesh, journalists often face job insecurity, political harassment, physical attacks, lawsuits and harassment by the Digital Security Act, and sexual harassment in their professional life, according to experts.
In a risk-assessment session of training titled Safety of Journalists with a Feminist Approach, journalists expressed the risks they face, said a press release issued Tuesday.
Women journalists often become victims of sexual harassment, threats and discrimination at the workplace as well as outside it. Female journalists at the event also mentioned the issues in the training.
The training was held at Ascott the Residence, Baridhara Diplomatic Area, Dhaka, on Sunday. It was organized by ARTICLE 19 South Asia, an international human rights organization working on freedom of expression and the right to information, under the global project “Equally Safe: Towards a feminist agenda to the safety of journalists (FEMSOJ)” with funding from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) in six countries in South America and South Asia.
Some 27 journalists from print, electronic and online media participated in the training.
ARTICLE 19 South Asia Regional Director Faruq Faisel said: “Ensuring safety and security in all terms, including physical, legal, psychosocial, digital, and financial aspects ensuring feminist approach is a must within and outside the workplace to make the women journalists and communicators sustainable in the profession”.
ARTICLE 19 South Asia Senior Program Officer Rumky Farhana presented the keynote paper, sharing the necessity of exercising feminist and intersectional gender approaches to create an enabling environment and highlighted the organization's activities on improving the protection mechanisms of journalists, especially women journalists.
The training sessions were conducted by freelance consultants Sayeed Ahmed, Mozahidul Islam and Aklima Ferdows.