The Hindu Business Line : Discrimination `at work'

Last week, over 75 women journalists from all over India, most of them from the Hindi print media, met in the capital to take stock of their careers. At the two-day conference, organised by Women Networks and the Central Social Welfare Board, almost every participant had a story to tell: Of harassment and suppression; injustice and discrimination, of their male colleagues' attempts to limit their professional achievement.

While some related tales of sexual harassment and innuendos, others talked about the rude and insensitive comments aimed at ruining their personal and professional reputation.

Anita (name changed) is a 25-year old photojournalist from Patna, and the only woman in the tribe in the city. "I have been around for four years, freelancing. From election meetings, to floods, to violence in Bihar, I have covered everything and my photos have been carried and appreciated. But when it comes to filling up a vacancy, I am always overlooked and continue to remain a stringer," she told the conference.

And that is not all. Constant digs are made at her and other women journalists. "If women do not put in long hours at work, they say, `what else can you expect from a woman; they are more dedicated to their home and children'. But when she puts in long hours, like I do, they say: `Oh, she is not married and has nothing to do at home'. If a married woman stays in the office late in the evening, the invariable comment is: `She cannot get along with her husband, that is why she is in the office all the time'."

Anita had the assembled women journalists in splits and nodding their heads vigorously when she pointed out that if a woman reporter does not have a scooter, the male colleagues say, "What kind of a reporter are you? Without a scooter how can you rush to a news spot in time?" I do own a scooter, but they say, "Arrey, a scooter is not enough for a photographer. You should have a motor bike like the rest of them. Yeh mardo ka kaam hai, is liye mard jaisi bano" (This is a man's profession; so become like a man). Lekin main kyno mard jaisi banoo? Mai mahila hi rehne me khush hun" (But why should I be like a man? I am happy being a woman), said the woman.

A journalist from Kolkata, who had worked in an English magazine and is now with a Bengali newspaper, pointed out how all the time she and her women colleagues have to listen to digs at work: "One day, a male colleague asked a woman journalist if she would like to model for undergarments. The woman took this to the editor and the man was reprimanded. But the result was that all the men stopped talking to her as though she, and not her offensive male colleague, was the guilty party".

Things are much worse in smaller cities such as Nagpur, Kanpur, Bhopal or Indore. The poetess from Udaipur, who composed heart-rending songs on the killing of a girl child in Rajasthan, was in her previous assignment given a column, `Mohalle ka Dard' (Woes of the locality). It pertained to civic issues and even after filing many articles on the subject, she was not assigned any other work. "So one day I told my editor that I am a respected poetess/singer and am fed up of reporting on clogged drains and stray dogs. Please give me something more challenging to do. But even after I had 300 byline articles, I continued to be a stringer, and finally decided to quit."

The stories get more bizarre. In Lucknow, a stringer for Doordarshan found her husband, a senior journalist at DD, being asked by his colleagues why for a mere Rs 3,000 he allowed his wife to "roam around the streets at night. What is more, his boss kept on asking me why I was not inviting him home for tea and gajar ka halwa!"

Needless to say she declined. It was amazing how many male bosses wanted to be invited home by their female colleagues for tea or a meal!

The saddest story was that of a young woman reporter of a Nagpur-based Hindi newspaper, where her husband worked too. Proud that in her house, there was no discrimination in the chores to be done — be it washing clothes, or cleaning vessels or cooking — she shared this information with her colleagues. But during Holi, when there is a tradition of giving titles to everybody in the office, her husband was promptly given the title `Joru ka Ghulam' (the wife's slave). "I was wild and took this matter up with my seniors. With the aid of computers, we tracked down the culprits and to my horror, found that women too were involved in it." Because of this unpleasant episode, her marriage is now on the rocks, said the shattered woman, breaking down.

A senior sub-editor from Patna related how it was always the woman who had to run up or down with a news copy or a photograph to the process zone or the editor's room. "It is always the woman who is expected to do these chores, while the men are busy either smoking or gossiping. Once, when two of my younger colleagues walked into the office, a fairly senior man asked them if a facial was the secret of their glowing skin. So I told them: Please comment on our headlines or pages, and not our faces."

Grave concern was expressed at the meeting about the growing trivialisation of the media and the tendency of the city editor or the chief reporter to ask the women to report on fashion shows, compile beauty tips and advise the readers on ways to keep the husband happy. "Pati ko khush kaisey rakhna" was so common an assignment that it was actually scary!

Two "chief guests" at different sessions of the gathering made an impact on the discussions. One was Ms Poornima Advani, chairperson of the National Women's Commission and daughter of the Union Home Minister, Mr L. K. Advani. She was appalled that not a single media organisation had set up a committee to monitor sexual harassment at workplace.

Supportive of the suggestions made, she promised to set up a joint working group of women journalists, members from the Commission and the Social Welfare Board. She struck a chord when she said she could understand the agony of the woman sub-editor from Kolkata who said her female neighbours continue to be suspicious of her return from work at unearthly hours, despite having explained her work to them. "I am asked all the time, `how can you stay here when your husband lives in London, and I tell them that if we are perfectly happy doing so, it should not bother them," she said, amidst applause.

But the man whose speech was drowned in protest and had to be rescued by the chairperson of the Social Welfare Board, Ms Mridula Sinha, was the BJP's Rajya Sabha MP from Rasjasthan, Mr Mahesh Sharma. The burden of his song was that even though his mother was uneducated, it was amazing that when it came to any festival or rituals, "she always knows what to do and how to do it." What was left unstated was that even without education, women could play such "an important role at home." He also found fault with the consensus that women journalists were better equipped to write on women's issues, particularly sensitive issues such as female foeticide, dowry deaths, etc.

Fortunately for him, the delayed lunch came to his rescue and several delegates challenged him to return the next day to have each point in his speech on Bharatiya sabhyata and sanskriti countered. Needless to say, he was not seen at the venue!

(Response can be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in)

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section
No collect call for basic operators

Mis(sed)direction of Budget

A new partnership for reforms

Serenading dust

How to love America

Poverty — at the root of terrorism

Discrimination `at work'

CEO appointments

Suburban rail fare

Illogical measures