Women in Kurdish news sector open up on harassment

Описание: (23 May 2021) LEAD IN:  
Iraqi Kurdish women working in the media say they face sexual harassment, both at the workplace and on assignments.
The harassment can take on many forms and women are "continually exposed" to it, one presenter says.

STORY-LINE:  
Women working in Sulaymaniyah-based media outlets say they are regularly exposed to sexual harassment.
Hawraz Ahmad, who started working in journalism 10 years ago, says a security official has asked her for an affair.
She went to the police to submit a complaint but was told that since she chose journalism as a career, she had to deal with the consequences.
"If journalism work is considered hard for men, it is 10 times harder for women," she says.
Ahmad no longer goes to the police but prefers to talk about incidents publicly and speak about them in the media.
"I personally faced these situations, and I don't hide that. Other journalists might not be able to say this clearly," she says.
"Most of the female journalists don't submit a complaint because they are afraid to lose their job," she adds.
When it is not physical, it is verbal, said Tevger Sherko, a presenter at the Nalia Media company
She says women working in the media in the Kurdish region of Iraq are "continually exposed" to harassment.
Sherko adds that the harassment follows women online, where people sometimes leave them inappropriate remarks on social media.
The Metro centre for journalists' rights has been documenting cases of harassment faced by female media practitioners in the Kurdish region.
"Unfortunately, this issue has been increasing year after year," says Diyari Mohammed, the director of the centre.
He adds that as many as one in two women working in the news industry "have faced sexual harassment."
Some of the women report incidents, but others don't out of fear of the consequences and the social stigma.
According to Mohammed, some female journalists have been forced to make compromises to their boss or the head of the media company to get the job.

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