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These days, women
war reporters can be found doing jobs that are
just as dangerous as their male counterparts —
on the frontlines in Afghanistan, running dodgy
bureaus in Iraq, translating in ravaged parts
of Africa. But one area sets them apart —
they are hiding sexual assault and harassment
to continue getting assignments, reports Judith
Matloff, who teaches at Columbia's Graduate School
of Journalism.
According to Matloff, also a former correspondent
for Reuters, female reporters are "targets
in lawless places where guns are common and punishment
rare." But the fear of being taken off an
assignment or being treated differently is so
great that women often do not tell their bosses.
A female photographer in India who was mobbed
and had her clothes torn off her before an onlooker
intervened, did not tell her editors what had
happened. "I put myself out there equal to
the boys. I didn't want to be seen in any way
as weaker," she told Matloff.
Local journalists face the added risk of politically
motivated attacks.
Rebels raped a woman that Matloff worked with
in Angola for her perceived sympathy for the ruling
party.
Because of the secrecy around sexual assaults,
it is hard to judge their frequency — and
public awareness is dire. Matloff knew of a dozen
assaults, mostly in combat zones. The perpetrators
included hotel employees, support staff, colleagues
and even police officers and security guards.
A survey two years ago by the International News
Safety Institute found that of the
29 respondents who took part, more than half reported
sexual harassment on the job. Two said they had
experienced sexual abuse.
The lack of public discussion helps explain why
there are no sections on sexual harassment and
assault in the leading handbooks on journalists'
safety by the Committee to Protect Journalists
and the International Federation of Journalists,
says Matlock. For women seeking security tips,
Matlock recommends hostile-environment training.
"No one tells women that deodorant can work
as well as mace when sprayed in the eyes, for
example, or that you can obtain doorknob alarms,
or that, in some cultures, you can ward off rapists
by claiming to menstruate," she advises.
Read Matloff's story in the May/June issue of
the "Columbia Journalism
Review": http://www.cjr.org/on_the_job/unspoken.php?page=all
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