The Secretary General of SNPP, Denise Saye, in her opening statement said that in the face of persistent challenges linked to the safety and security of  journalists in relation to their work, most especially female journalists, ‘there is need to create awareness on issues concerning sexual harassment in the workplace, discrimination is the assignment of tasks in the newsrooms and the deliberate  isolation of female journalists from holding top positions at the management level despite their competences’.

‘ This seminar is therefore not only timely but important in the sense that it will help female journalists to deliberate about the challenges that they encounter in the workplace and more so  to work together as union members to find solutions to these problems.’  As female journalists, she said , we must continue ‘ to   denounce, propose solutions, carry out advocacy actions and make recommendations to media employers and the authorities in relation to all forms of gender- based violence in the media’.

The Financial and Administrative Officer at the IFJ Africa Office, Sokhna Dia said that female journalists across that continent must work together in solidarity in order to be able to tackle the challenges confronting them.  ‘Female journalists working online are harassed, intimidated and threatened based on their sexuality which has forced some of them to abandon the profession.  Journalists unions and associations across the continent must continue to develop reporting mechanisms that will help victims of gender –based violence in the media to seek redress’.

The lead consultant at the seminar, Jacqueline Kitoga, called on the participants at the seminar to acquire knowledge on the laws and policy frameworks that guarantee their rights as workers. ‘In most instances, our rights are simply trampled upon, because we do not know how to defend ourselves’.  She emphasised that though female journalists must continue to denounce gender inequality and gender based violence in the media, ‘our male colleagues must also denounce the violence perpetrated against their female colleagues. Journalists unions must at all times speak out boldly against gender inequality and gender based violence in the media’.

The two- day seminar addressed in-depth the definitions of gender, equality, equity as well as the different dimensions in regards to the safety and security of female journalists; gender mainstreaming in the media and unions; legal frameworks guaranteeing the rights of workers and female journalist in particular; UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists; Tackling Sexual Harassment in the newsrooms and the role of the unions in the fight against gender based violence in the media.