The 8th of March, International Women’s Day, is when the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Gender Council will be celebrating the commitment and courage of women journalists who keep on reporting, despite threats and intimidation, to provide information that the public has a right to.
Many of them have experienced misogynistic comments and attacks on their appearance, as well as online abuse. In their work reporting the truth, some have also experienced the fear of having to check under their car for bombs, threatening phone calls late at night, being followed in the street, threatening police visits to their home, their children being intimidated on their way to and from school and jail terms based on fabricated criminal charges. Some have even been killed.
Yet their determination to press on has not wavered. Around the world, women journalists refuse to be silenced. They continue to report rigorously, responsibly and in the public interest.
More than ever, their voices matter for media pluralism and the public’s right to know.
Today, women journalists tell us why they keep reporting. Let’s celebrate the stories of Ayşemden Akın (Cyprus), Amanda Miranda (Brazil), Ahad Yaseen (Yemen), Marta Monforte (Spain), Francisca Christy Rosana (Indonesia), Javeria Siddique (Pakistan), Chadha Al-Hajj Mubarak (Tunisia) and many more. And let’s share them widely!
On 8 March, the IFJ demands justice for all its sisters who have been targeted for doing their job and celebrates women journalists who dedicate their lives to fighting impunity, holding those in power to account and striving for fully informed societies and robust democracies.
Women journalists fight on.
Source: IFJ
