IAWRT member Fatana Bayat wins Laadli Gender Sensitivity Award

Fatana Bayat, a documentary filmmaker, and Mina Habib, a journalist from Afghanistan, have won the Laadli Media and Advertising Award for Gender Sensitivity for their work in highlighting the situation of women.

AWRT Afghanistan member Fatana Bayat, an Afghan documentary filmmaker, has been recognized for her work in the past two years depicting the situation of women and has been well received. She won the South Asian prize for gender-related issues in the media.

The award is organized by the Indian organization Population First, a Mumbai-based social impact organization supported by the UNFPA, and aims to promote gender sensitivity in media across India.

The award ceremony took place in Mumbai, India. However, due to Taliban restrictions, the two Afghan female journalists could not attend in person.

Ms. Bayat, in a message to IAWRT, said “I sincerely congratulate all my media colleagues, especially the female journalists and all the women of my country, and I hope that we can be the voice of women in Afghanistan in this difficult situation.”

Given the extremely adverse conditions in which Afghanistan journalists work especially since the return of the Taliban to Kabul, this achievement is a source of inspiration that Fatana and also Mina have been able to produce work that is meaningful, relevant and award-winning.

IAWRT’s chapter in Afghanistan launched in November 2022 a report about the dangers, challenges and changes that female journalists have faced in Afghanistan since August 2021. Among them are job losses, the closure of media outlets, and restrictions on reporting and on women in the profession among others. Read more here.