IAWRT Philippines brings situation of Filipino women, journalists to CSW68

As we commemorate Women’s Month, the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) Philippines is set to bring the situation of Filipino women and women journalists before the 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) here at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

IAWRT Philippines is organizing “Our Stories, Our Struggles: Safety of Women in Media,” an in-person parallel event to be held at the Chapel of the Church Center of the United Nations on March 19, 2024, 10:30 a.m. EDT.

IAWRT Philippines hopes this platform can serve as a springboard for continuing discussions, actions, and research on the gendered experiences of women in media.

Just last week, two Filipino women journalists were harassed while covering the violent demolition of homes at a 73-hectare disputed land in the Philippines where approximately 2,000 residents or 535 families were affected. At gunpoint, one of the journalists was told to stop covering. This is usually how the lives of women journalists, and Filipino women as a whole, intersect. But fundamentally, their shared experiences go far beyond this.

Women in media do find common cause with the plight of the larger community of women in the country, as many are working with low pay, without benefits, and no hazard pay. They are also offered hardly any protection and safe reporting mechanisms from gender-based attacks in the course of their work, contributing to the stigma in seeking accountability from perpetrators.

The IAWRT Philippines event is co-organized with IAWRT, IAWRT USA, IAWRT Afghanistan, the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC), the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law, and Development (APWLD), and Gabriela New York.