麻豆约拍

Bangladesh ranks 163rd in the world in the Press Freedom Index and journalists face difficult working conditions, with poor pay and little job security. 麻豆约拍 Media Action has been working through Protecting Independent Media for Effective Development (PRIMED) to support local media associations in their efforts at change. In this third of three articles, our guest blogger Udisa Islam, special correspondent for the Bangla Tribune, examines the issue of gender equality in media in Bangladesh.

The time has come to question how Bangladesh’s media outlets are navigating gender equality. Our mass media has reached adulthood, after a history of ups and downs. One significant way to measure the maturity of media is its sensitivity to issues of gender. We need to find solutions to the questions of why the media should become gender-sensitive, and how.

It is time to talk about the presence of women in media, the representation of women in media, and the working environment for women working in media. 

It is cliché to state that journalism is challenging. Since the beginning of my work in the media, I have often heard that women face greater risk in this profession. In a country like Bangladesh, where only 12 percent of households are led by women and men retain most decision-making roles, it can be a challenge just to comprehend a woman’s life and identity outside the domestic sphere.

According to ’s (MRDI) recent research, women journalists are facing discrimination, directly or indirectly, in media in Bangladesh. Only 10 per cent of media’s staff here are women, and very few are in decision-making positions. They recommend that to address this, media experts, society leaders, and development partners must work together.

Gender sensitivity in presentation and presence

But what about how women are represented in media? According to the MRDI study, most news stories including women do so either because they are in an important position, or part of an event. In most news stories, women are either the subject of the story or narrators of their experiences. Representation of women as experts is extremely rare, particularly in stories about politics and governance. However, in news about violence and torture, women are shown excessively.

Now let's examine gender sensitivity in presentation and presence.  There have been positive changes identified, for instance, around how women are described, and ensuring that women who are abuse survivors can rely on anonymity in media. However, if we consider the rate at which our media has grown since 2000, this particular progress fails spectacularly to become noteworthy. As long as patriarchy is ingrained in our brains, simply 'following the rules' and behaving sensibly will in itself prove to be a Herculean task. If we do not adopt gender sensitivity in our own behaviour and personal life, then these negative habits are bound to be conveyed in media in one way or another.

How to achieve change

We like to think that we are learning to become 'gender sensitive', and taking training to learn it, and we have the opportunity to converse about these topics. But then, we are failing to remove the concept of patriarchy from our brains. As a result, overall and fundamental change is still a long way off.

However, if someone enters to journalism after preparing to become a more gender-sensitive person, follows ethical practices, and if there is an institutional practice of good journalism, then the number of women in media will increase and the representation of women in mass media will also change.

But as long as our media remain separated from this way of thinking, true freedom in representation might never become a reality.

Udisa Islam is a Special Correspondent for the Bangla Tribune. She can be reached at udisaislam@gmail.com.

Read the first blog in the series here - and the second here.

Read more about PRIMED here.