"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers."
The quotation from the Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Right is relevant even today because it emphasizes the free flow ideas, the bedrock of press freedom.
The constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990, has guaranteed fundamental human rights including freedom of thought and expression. It also specifies that the government may not censor any kind of news and views including other reading materials. The constitution has guaranteed the right of the press and publication. It has established the right of access to information for every Nepali citizen.
The restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990 has ushered in a new era of liberalism, freedom and pluralism in society. The abrogation of restrictive clauses previously imposed on the press has opened the door for increased investment. Private sector investment has come heavily into the print as well as audiovisual media.


Women journalists in Nepal

History of involvement of women journalists in print media is not too long. Before establishment of democracy in 1950 AD a group of female journalists published monthly magazine, "Women."
The first women editor in chief in Nepalese history is Mrs. Shadana Adhikary. Now that paper is not in existence. Despite the history of more than hundred years of journalism, proportional representation of women in journalism is not satisfactory. But for this, one must take into consideration the socio-economic and demographic perspectives of Nepal.
Nepal has not attained the 100 per cent literacy either in child or adult education. It has to wait till 2015 for this. The proportions of girls in primary and secondary levels are 50 and 41 per cent respectively.
In a society where the educational status of women is not the same as men, women are bound to lag behind men in every front. The same thing happened in the case of representation of women in journalism.
There are other obstacles for women in journalism. Most parents in Nepalese society do not consider journalism as secure profession for their daughters. There are very few women engaged in reporting.
Most women journalists either want to be news anchors in TV, radio or want to be copy editors. But only a handful is trying to make their mark as reporters in print as well as audiovisual media.
Moreover, Nepalese female journalists are mostly from the capital, Kathmandu, and few other urban areas. Out of 75 districts in the country, women journalists are present only in 24 districts. Recently department of press has reviewed the scenario. Out of 2,729 journalists there are only 227 women journalists.
The breakdown of caste-wise representation of women journalists in the print and electronic media is as follows: Brahmin: 93 (40.96 per cent), Chhetri: 47 (20.70 per cent), Newar: 44 (19.38 per cent), Lama: 2 (2.88 per cent) and Mongoloid group: 25 (11.01 per cent).
Here, we can see that there is a vast difference in the caste composition of women journalists in the country. More then 80 per cent women journalists work in different media in Kathmandu, which shows a capital-based concentration. Although many media-training centres have cropped up in the last few years they have been unable to include women journalist from remote districts.
Thirty-seven women journalists are engaged in various government-owned media institutions including two in Gorkhapatra Daily, one in The Rising Nepal, two in National News Agency, 15 in Radio Nepal and 15 in Nepal Television.
Besides, there are three women journalists in Kantipur Daily (Nepalese), eight in Kathmandu Post (English), three in Himalaya Times (Nepalese), nine in Himalayan Times (English), four in Space Time Daily (Nepalese), five in Channel Nepal, one in Nepal Shamachar Patra and three in Rajdhani (daily).
There are more women journalists in FM radio, local TV channels (STN, Shangri-La), advertising agencies and weekly papers too.
There are five magazines published by women targeting the women. These are Manshi, Apechha, Asmita, Yosha and Bidushi. But they are not regular.


Situation of press

Nepal presents a queer model of coexistence of the officially controlled and private sector media. Government initiative has been prominent in the institutional development of modern mass media institutions since the publication of the first newspaper, Gorkhapatra, in 1901.
The initiative later led to the establishment of a national broadcasting service, Radio Nepal (1970), the National News Agency or the Rastriya Samachar Samiti (1962), the Press Council (1970), Nepal Telecommunications Corporation (1971) and Nepal Television (1982).
The development of a free press was made possible following the restoration of democracy in 1991. Many private newspapers, FM radio and two private TV channels came into operation thereafter.
In terms of media reach, newspapers come into the third category although the total readership was hardly 1.0 million in Nepal. They are much more stronger and effective. There are nearly 1286 newspapers registered with the District Administration office all over the country.


Problems of women journalists

There is always some kind of problems in any of work. But we should not be afraid of the problems. Instead, we should tackle those wisely. In my opinion, there are two kinds of problem in our working sphere. First is the natural and second behavioural.
The nature-made problem of working women is almost universal. On the other hand, the problem, which is creation of human, is mainly behavioural. The main causes of the latter kind of problem are lack of education, poverty and awareness.
To overcome such problem, we have to go a long way. Employers do not prefer women because they may face multiple problems. They cannot assign them out of their station, not to mention during the odd hours. So, most private news organizations do not want to hire female journalists permanently. Most journalists also do not get support from their family members as their working time is not acceptable by their family. In spite of all these odds, the situation not so disappointing because young graduates irrespective of gender are being lured by media's glorious glare in increasing numbers.
It is, however, a matter of great pleasure that there is no discrimination on the salary or wage pattern offered to female journalists in Nepal. The constitution has guaranteed not to discriminate with respect of gender, cast, religion, language etc.
The constitutions of our union also do not discriminate on the ground of gender. Both male and female members are eligible to assume leadership positions. As an emerging union, we have not made any special committee to deal with female members, but we are willing to do so.

Nirmala Acharya, the Deputy Chief Reporter of Nepal's official RSS news agency, presented this article at an IFJ/FES Regional Gender Equity Workshop in Kuala Lumpur

Copyright © 2004 Third World Media Journal A Quarterly Publication of Third World Media Network (TWMN)