Give Women a Voice of their Own

Published in Epilogue, Vol 7, Issue 05, May 01 2013

In conflict zones, women are often perceived as victims who have to endure every day challenges being posed on to their lives. While Journalism faces a severe crisis in these regions, issues pertaining to women are only further marginalised. However, women have found means to reach out through their writings.

Women are capable of accelerating positive change and push forth issues and other developmental concerns pertaining to them which otherwise tend to go unnoticed and unheard of. Also, women suffering under decades of conflict and violence are more comfortable sharing their experiences with other woman rather than with people of the opposite sex. Women can act as pressure groups and force the Government to enact laws against gender discrimination.

In Kashmir and Northeast India, many women are now exploiting media to voice their opinions. Bismah Malik, who worked with Kashmir Times and CNBC TV 18, says “I always wanted to work for my people, especially women who face many challenges in conflict zones, due to their gender. There is a dire need for more women journalists to tell stories about their families, about women, which are downplayed”. Inshah Malik, a PhD Scholar from Jawahar Lal Nehru University in Delhi published her first book called “Muslim Women under the ongoing impact ongoing conflict in Kashmir: a study conducted in the Northern District of Kupwara (Indian Administered Kashmir)”. She emphasises that in a war like situation when the motive is to demean the enemy community, women tend to be the worst sufferers. This has strengthened her resolve to highlight, through her writings, every day realities concerning women in Kashmir. Similarly Teresa Rehman, originally from Shillong and editor of thumb print magazine has chronicled experiences of her people from the North East India. She has intensively written about State sponsored violence in the region including atrocities committed by the militant groups.

The patriarchal mind set which is deeply entrenched into the society as a whole perceives journalism as a “male job”. However the conditions are worse in regions like Kashmir and Northeast India. There is a tendency to not offer women important and investigative topics, since they are either more prone to sexual violence when out in public spaces or lack journalistic skills due to imbalanced training approaches. Afsana Rashid who has worked with newspapers like Tribune, Kashmir images and Kashmir Times says, “I choose to be a journalist above anything else. As a female journalist it was not easy. Some made fun of us, ignored us and we are not generally invited to press conferences.

Similarly Anjulika Oinam, from Manipur, claimed that being a journalist here poses serious challenges. Her family was not supportive of her choosing this profession for herself since they believed that her job is precarious and involves regular interaction with the armed forces, civil officials and militants. She had to quit, but she was happy to see that many women are now overcoming these challenges on a daily basis to report issues concerning the people in Manipur. 

Working for a media firm in these regions is demanding, offers meagre incentives and involves serious hazards. Sadly enough, the murderous attempt on Tongam Rina in July 2012 who was an associate editor of Arunachal Times is still under investigation. The mainstream and local media outlets have suggested that this attack is relevant to other threats Rina has received in the past years for her investigative work on National Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM) activities, corruption in the State, dam construction on Siang River and tribal fault lines that have torn her State apart. There have been attempts to vandalise her office. She asserts that the State authorities are least interested in investigating the case and it’s due to their negligence that journalists in Arunachal Pradesh face serious challenges in their work. However, she is relieved to see that this attack has instilled confidence and vigour in many women to pick up their pen and write stories challenging the authority of rogue elements that continue to be a hindrance in the progress of the State.

Media freedom is often eroded especially in sensitive circumstances that prevail in Kashmir and North East India. Often when a curfew is imposed, it reduces mobility and even reporters find it challenging to collect stories. Therefore women can devise other strategies for communication in these regions. For Example, Nissa FM is a promising radio initiative run by Palestine women which commemorates their experiences under Israeli occupation. There are constant efforts made by women to disseminate inspiring stories of women who have taken concrete steps to rebuild communities despite the prevailing difficult circumstances. It also allows interaction between women separated by check points to share their experiences and encourage more participation.

Apart from this, there are other models which could be replicated by and for women to facilitate spread of information regarding women’s rights and the welfare schemes run by the State Government which they could avail. If women are aware of her rights it leads to more participation in politics and other social forums. CGNET Swara, is a voice portal initiative run in the Central Gondwana region which empowers the rural and socially backward communities to record their problems on a mobile phone. This can later be accessed by mainstream media outlets through CGNET Swara. The socio economic problems and Government neglect are part of their lives which often go unheard. Certain factions like the Maoists are exploiting their conditions to their advantage. It is extremely important that these people find a means to voice their concerns. Similarly, Video Volunteers is also working towards empowering extremely backward and rural communities across India by strengthening the local media in video journalism skills to tell stories which are under or unreported. It has lent a voice to the people to voice their problems and find long its long lasting solutions. 

To enhance women’s participation in the media, a group of young and senior journalists along with students from Kashmir came together, a few years ago, to form a Women Writers Forum. This forum facilitates cross learning and honing writing and reporting skills of young writers under the mentorship of senior journalists. It also encourages participation from women in the rural communities of Kashmir to come forward and express their concerns. Constant efforts have been made to carve space for stories of Kashmir women in the mainstream media. More women writers are urged to join the forum to broaden the scope for them to voice their concerns.

Another encouraging example is Charkha, a Delhi Based NGO, which has been encouraging and empowering women from all across Kashmir, especially from rural communities, by awarding Sanjoy Ghose Media Fellowships to give them an opportunity to share their stories with a wider audience.  

Local media in conflict zones have a critical responsibility as their reports and stories play a huge role in shaping perception of the entire population. Any recourse to sensationalism may prove harmful and further aggravate the already difficult situation in these regions. Therefore women need to be trained in adopting a critical thinking while reporting stories. Organisations like Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace, New Delhi, facilitate workshops on “peace journalism” for local media professionals in Kashmir to enable them in objective reporting. This however does not mean that one turns a blind eye to the atrocities perpetrated by State elements and the militants, but stories should be more focussed on explanation rather than justification or solutions and not problems. 

The advent of digital and social media(Facebook, Twitter) in these regions, has offered more opportunities to women to circulate their stories and concerns on a much larger platform. Blogging has acquired tremendous prominence in the past years as an effective tool in this regard. A blog by a 25 year old woman from Iraq called “Baghdad Burning”( http://riverbendblog.blogspot.in/ ) gained popularity as it gave eye witness accounts of the occupation and realities on ground and the political motives behind it. Her identity as yet remains concealed for her own protection.

These inspiring stories prove that women can invent new strategies of communication in conflict scenarios. Radio Purbanchal in Nepal is the first of its kind in South Asia to advocate for women’s rights. It familiarises women with the existing situation and how they can participate in politics. It also lends voice to the minority communities. It has been very effective in raising its voice against practices like dowry. It is now being run in 4 to 5 languages. WEDNET (Women Environment and Development network) in Ghana for example, shows how women rose against western economic policies which were not viable for their natural resources and were in turn responsible for environmental degradation. Their participatory communication network resulted in revitalising traditional strategies which led to mitigating African environmental crisis.  

Women from these regions have continued to mitigate conflict as activists, social workers, writers, mothers and doctors. These inspiring stories have to reach out to the larger masses to encourage larger participation of women in conflict resolution. To achieve this, civil society organisations can continue to empower more women from these regions through organising workshops in writing, editing, video recording and other journalism skills required for women to be at par with their male counterparts. More provisions for media fellowships and awards for excellent contribution in the field of journalism from these regions will be a concrete step towards embracing more women in the writers circle. Since working as a woman in these conflict regions is extremely difficult and dangerous, Universities which offer media centric courses in these regions can offer necessary knowledge and training which caters to women’s needs. The mushrooming realisation in local media outlets that there is a need to adopt more women inclusive approach is a welcoming change. Mainstream media outlets and the academic circle could look at pursuing the cause of women journalists in these conflict regions by delivering their expertise. It is time to give women a chance to be heard and accelerate the process towards conflict resolution.