Bangladeshi media inactive in disposing of sexual harassment allegations: Study

The allegations of sexual harassments in Bangladeshi media as workplaces have not been officially listed and not been institutionally disposed of, according to Sweden-based Fojo Media Institute.

At a webinar held on Tuesday, the Sweden-based media development organisation presents a report based on an extensive study done in Bangladesh, Rwanda, Somalia, Sweden and Zimbabwe.

Fojo Media Institute of the Linnaeus University, Sweden, initiated the global study on Gender Equality in Mass Media in collaboration with the Gothenburg University's Department of Journalism, Media & Communication (JMG) to understand how gender equality are integrated in media regulation, self-regulation and within media in house policies.

According to the report, in the five in ten national media policies with provisions related to gender equality sampled in the study. It is the right to non-discrimination on the basis of a list of identities, including sex or gender that is protected, making this the single most common issue at which state regulators draw the line on media freedom.

Only a small fraction of media organisations have in place gender equality, equal opportunities or gender-diversity policies, it added.

Under the Management and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI), journalist and researcher Qurratul-Ain-Tahmina conducted the Bangladesh part of the global study. In the study, she highlighted the observation regarding Bangladesh context.

According to the study report, in the Bangladeshi media, some issues including maternity leave, separate toilets for ladies, exclusion from night time duty and their security are given more importance as gender equality.

Also in Bangladesh 2005, women were present as 26% of news content which decreased to 16% by 2020. Besides, 9% women gave experts opinions in 2005 which remained unchanged in 2020.