World Day for Decent Work 2024 celebrated in Pakistan to highlight women’s issues in Pakistani media

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) celebrated the World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) 2024 to highlight different issues women face in workplaces within the Pakistani media, a statement from the body said on Tuesday.

The IFJ said it launched a campaign on October 7 to mark WDDW in Pakistan titled ‘Building Stronger Workplaces in Pakistan’ which focused on women in the media.

The campaign included infographics, polls, video messages from media employees, union leaders, and press clubs, an online petition and space which will discuss important issues faced by journalists, especially women in the media.

“Decent work is a fundamental right, and it is imperative that IFJ stand in solidarity with all workers,” the statement said. “IFJ calls on governments and media organisations to ensure that journalists work in safe, fair, and dignified conditions.”

IFJ has worked in Pakistan for the past four years “to empower the Pakistani media, especially women in media”.

In 2023, IFJ created a women’s network across Pakistan, the Women Media Forum, Pakistan (WMFP), which has been working closely with women in the media across Pakistan.

IFJ’s WDDW campaign was developed on the results of the gender mapping of Pakistani media which was conducted in two phases in 2023 and 2024 by IFJ’s Women’s Media Forum, Pakistan (WMFP).

The WMFP is a women’s network across Pakistan an initiative of IFJ which is led by five coordinators in five regions of Pakistan, according to the statement. The forum mapped 18 media organisations in the second phase.

The results revealed many serious and important issues faced by women in media which were not being addressed such as the lack of separate bathrooms for women and no bathrooms in many media organisations.

The WMFP found that this caused health issues in the women workers leading them to leave the media.

Another important issue was the gender pay gap and maternity leaves. WMFP’s mapping found that 25 per cent of women journalists were unaware about their right to maternity leave provided by the law.

The mapping also found that 50pc of journalists were not clear about the salary structure by management in the newsrooms, which led to the gender pay gap going unchecked.

The IFJ is the world’s largest organisation of journalists, representing over 600,000 members in more than 140 countries working to promote press freedom, defend the rights of journalists, and improve working conditions in the media industry.