Participants at the conference (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Sexualharassment has been one of the biggest problems facing female journalists, butadequate attention has yet to be paid to the building of policies and mechanismto deal with the issue, heard a conference in gender equality in journalism heldin Hanoi on May 22.
Jaldeep Katwala, Director for the Southeast Asia region of theFOJO Media Institute cited a survey jointly conducted by the institute and the Centrefor Media and Development in September 2017 that the ratio of harassment againstfemale journalists was 27 percent.
However, thejournalists themselves have different understanding about acts that constitutesexual harassment, he said, addingthat the majority of media agencies so far have no policy or training on how toprevent harassments.
Over the past years,Vietnam has made numerous efforts to ensure gender equality. However, the issueremains high on the national agenda and draws special attention of the society.
Participants at theevent held that journalism has an important role in improving public awarenessof gender equality.
They also highlightedfemale journalists’ role in protecting the interest and equality of women.
Nguyen Thi Tam, DeputyEditor-in-Chief of the VietnamPlus e-newspaper of the Vietnam News Agency underscoredthe need for the media to make proper coverage on gender equality to avoidinadvertently promoting erroneous views and hurting women.
The Vietnam NewsAgency currently has over 3,000 staff, over 50 percent of whom are women, shenoted, adding that recently, the agency has had a female Deputy GeneralDirector.
Meanwhile, Tran LeThuy, Director of the Centre for Media and Development said that currently, femalejournalists have faced lesser difficulties in getting a job in journalismsector. But harassment against both male and female journalists is still anobstacle in their job, harming both their mental and physical health.
In the coming time,the centre will continue with efforts to support journalists in ensuring genderequality in media agencies, while eliminating violence and harassment againstjournalists.-VNA
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