Gender Equality Policies Firm In Fiji Newsrooms

Gender Equality Policies Firm In Fiji Newsrooms
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=169409

SUVA (The Fiji Times/Pacific Media Watch): Fiji newsrooms show remarkable uniformity and a strong degree of commitment to gender equality in their policies, says a new research report.

A global report on women in the media said three news companies surveyed have adopted policies on gender equity, sexual harassment, maternity leave, and providing educational training to women.

However, the report highlighted that there were no corresponding policies on paternity leave, on returning women to their same jobs after maternity leave or on providing some form of child-care assistance.

These policies, the report said were in the realm of family-support policies that were associated with encouraging women's full participation in the profession.

The Global Report of the Status of Women in the News Media said within the companies reporting, nearly all women and men in journalism were full-time, regular employees.

Therefore, women enjoyed the same high level of job security as men at these companies.

But only two companies participating in the study responded to questions of salary.

"Except for the governance level, where the average highest salaries for men are substantially more than those of women, average salaries appear to be comparable or identical in all occupational categories," the report said.

"If this data has been reported accurately, it signals considerable equity in earnings for women who can enter and move up in the profession.

"Further research would be needed to determine the extent to which these figures represent other Fiji newsrooms."

ENDS