(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News) NEILI (Pajhwok): Media activists and journalists in central Daikundi province say 's interest in the field has increased but they still face many challenges starting from home.
According to female journalists, working for them in the field was difficult in the previous years because of cultural and other restrictions.
Women would face challenges in the past such as job and social insecurity, but those challenges have reduced now.
Latifa Mosavi, a female reporter in Daikundi, said being a media activist was a difficult and challenging task for women.
She said lack of professionalism, inadequate salary, non-availability of transport, biasness and improper behavior by government officials were some of the challenges women journalists faced in the province.
She added: 'Despite these challenges, I never quit working in the media because of my interest and passion with journalism.'
Masuma Seerat, another woman journalist, said working conditions for women journalists had recently improved compared to the past. The most important challenge in Daikundi was job security, she said.
'Job insecurity, low pay, being considered as inferior to men were factors that disappointed women to work in the media. Women in Daikundi have special interest to work in media if they are supported,' she added.
Syed Mohammad Anwar Shahab, in charge of Daikundi Radio and representative of Journalists Centre, said four radio stations, including the National Radio and Television of Afghanistan (RTA) and two weekly magazines have been active in the province.
He added 17 journalists and reporters, including four women, worked in Daikundi. He acknowledged the challenges woman journalists faced and said: 'We want media supporting groups to work for capacity building of woman journalists and support them financially.'
He demanded media supporting organizations press media outlets owners to improve salaries of female journalists and ensure their job security.
Sakena Hussaini, another woman journalist, said their situation had improved compared to the past. 'In the past we lacked professional knowledge about media, woman reporters were unaware of the principles of journalism, there was no salary but during the ongoing year, some of our problems were addressed and a small amount of salary ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 was being paid.'
Reza Wahidi, in charge of a media outlet and representative of Journalists Safety Organisation (JSO), also acknowledged challenges faced by women journalists and said local media outlets lacked the ability to provide good pay to woman journalists and lacked the capacity to address challenges female activists faced.
Sultan Ali Javadi, a media activist, said despite a relatively peaceful in Daikundi, negative perceptions regarding women's jobs outside home and specially in media remained in the .
Lack of professionalism and financial inability of media outlets kept Daikundi women away from working in the media.
Mohammad Hussain Seerat, director of Information and Cultural Affairs Department, said woman journalists in Daikundi were facing multiple challenges.
However, he said public awareness about working of women as journalists increased this year and also government officials had started behaving properly with woman journalists.
He said the government provided access to information to all journalists without any gender discrimination and asked media outlets to support woman journalists financially.
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