Monday, May 11, 2020 - 09:51 Carmen Gomez

When I hear the often and well used phrase “women being empowered,” I sense that “machismo” has been around for so long and is so deep rooted, that I believe it has diluted the strengths that such a well meaning sentiment embodies. I speak of women journalists who, over the course of 200 years, have been under threat. The incidents are too numerous to go into; but many female journalists have not only faced long jail sentences because of their work, but been killed for their reporting; something which has seen a surge in recent years.

In many instances their cases have never been heard, nor have their killers been brought to justice. Attacks on women journalists are often violent and sexually orientated; many having been gang raped. Is this because there is this preconceived idea that it is not a woman’s place to report? Or that journalism is supposed to be a man’s world and if a woman crosses that barrier she has to be punished?

Harassment, aggression and violence

Tragically, there are Governments and ruling parties, who have exploited opportunities to silence any woman thinking of criticising the mighty; by inventing wicked rumours and carrying out campaigns of intimidation to silence them. A case in point is that of an Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, who tirelessly reported on corruption in India. She was branded as unpatriotic and a prostitute and threatened with rape and death; she even had her home address and phone number published online by someone.

In certain countries similar tactics have been used to deter women from running for public office, using a form of sexualised disinformation. A UN commission on the status of women; otherwise known as CSW; held a session in 2013, on the safety of women journalists; however few specific recommendations appear to have been made on the agreed conclusions, other than general concern for their well being when faced with harassment, aggression and violence.

Some time back I wrote about the death of a very well known Maltese journalist by the name of Daphne Caruana Galizia. She wanted to call out her country’s‘ dysfunctional electoral system; financial regulators and money laundering. One has to ask on this occasion, how a so called democratic and European nation like hers, was able to operate like this without consequences.