SOMWA says the female journalists in Somalia face challenges in their jobs in the field as the media authorities in the country continue to ignore the rights of the girls in the media. This comes as the world celebrated the international day of ending impunity on the crimes against journalists.
Speaking to the Tubta Nabada (Path to Peace) radio program run by the United Nations in Somalia, Maryan Seylac, the executive director of SOMWA, said on 5 November 2021, Women journalists in Somalia go through all shapes and forms of gender-based violence, including intimidation, sexual harassment, and online threats in the newsroom and in the field of collecting news.
They also encounter inequality, job discrimination, exploitation, and less salary.
“The inner challenges include that the women reporters are not given an opportunity to develop their media skills. Also what we know so far is the media in Somalia are male-dominated and the little number of female journalists are not allowed to hold big radio and tv shows and programs and managerial roles,” said Maryan Seylac.
Despite the outside problem of insecurity being common, female journalists are still susceptible to the risky situation on the ground where female media professionals are seen to have unnecessary roles in this field.
Maryan called on the independent media authorities to have close attention to the dire situations in which the female journalists are working on.