Media Development Center, Journalists Syndicate Open a Gender Unit
Birzeit University’s Media Development Center has opened a
gender unit in partnership with the Journalists Syndicate.
The move was announced at a March 16 consultative
meeting attended by representatives of the center and the
Journalists Syndicate, who discussed a vision
for the unit, which will be led by journalist Nahed Abu T'eima.
The center’s director Nibal Thawabteh said that the
main objective of
the unit is
to strengthen the
role and participation
of women in
the media. Syndicate representative
Omar Nazzal observed that the percentage of active journalists
who are female is 17.1%, according to the
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and those members of the syndicate that are female make up about 20%
of the group.
Media specialist Kholoud Assaf
from the Palestine News and Information Agency WAFA
said that female Palestinian journalists
represent a reality where women in the labor force are gradually increasing and
the problems they encounter are those of the broader society. Journalist Amal
Juma’ said that the gender unit will be responsible for compiling a database of female journalists,
among other things.
During the meeting, attendees were divided into two groups
- those discussing women’s “empowerment” and those discussing the “legal and institutional
climate” - in order to develop
ideas about what
female journalists need or want and apparent strengths and weaknesses.
The findings of the empowerment
group were mainly the need to conduct a study on the
reality of the media, identify
the needs of female media students and experts in West Bank and Gaza Strip, create a database for female journalists,
and integrate with feminist media networks.
The legal and institutional climate group called for a legal review
of the bylaws of media organizations
where female journalists are working, expansion
of female enrollment in the Journalists’
Syndicate, assistance in providing job opportunities for female journalists,
and the holding of periodic
meetings to follow up on the achievements
of the unit.
