Sudanese women journalists faced underexposed economic violence during first lockdown

Economic violence and sexual violence faced by women journalists during the first Covid-19 period did not receive sufficient attention, journalists warned at a workshop on International Human Rights Day in Khartoum.

The workshop on Economic Violence Against Women Journalists was organised by the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and El Alag Centre for Journalistic Services on Saturday to mark the closing of the annual international 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence and celebrate International Human Rights Day.

Economic violence and sexual violence against women in general, and women journalists in particular, appeared during the first Covid-19 period and did not receive sufficient attention. So did other issues affecting women, Journalist Madiha Abdallah said at the workshop.

Women journalists especially suffered economic violence during the first lockdown.

Many women journalists lost their income when newspapers closed their doors during the first lockdown. Other newspapers rearranged their conditions and provided men journalists with more job opportunities than women journalists, considering them breadwinners.

Abdallah further referred to the Sudanese Labour Law and explained that falls short in guaranteeing the rights of working women compared to the regulations set by the International Labour Organisation.

The situation is unlikely to improve. The newly elected chair of the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate, Abdelmunim Abu Idris, said that the Sudanese press is threatened with extinction due to the economic crisis in Sudan.

Several Sudanese newspapers have gone bankrupt already.

Other threats

Abu Idris mentioned “other reasons that threaten the profession, including the rapid development of new media and technologies”, and said that the syndicate has designed a training programme to increase the capabilities of journalists to be able to compete in the regional and international markets.

In October, the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate (SJS) also warned that the press and media in Sudan have faced unprecedented targeting and “a terrible regression in terms of press freedom” since the October 25, 2021 coup. 

“The Sudanese press suffers from oppression, threats, brutal beatings, revenge attacks, summons and detentions, in addition to raids of press offices, destruction of equipment, and obscene verbal abuse against men and women journalists and photographers in an unprecedented way since the military coup,” said the newly-reformed union