RIYADH, 4 March 2003 — Female journalists in the Kingdom are steadily gaining recognition.
Despite the lack of journalism and mass communication programs in colleges and universities, increasing numbers of them are taking up journalism as a profession. It is now common to find women — Saudi and foreign nationals alike — working for English and Arabic publications.
“From what I gather, there are a lot of young women here who would like to go into journalism,” says Ibtihal Al-Samaraie, a journalist and Internet coordinator for Al-Riyadh Arabic language newspaper.
Al-Samaraie studied organizational communication at the International Islamic University of Malaysia and has worked for Al-Jadeeda magazine and the pan-Arab Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
“At university, I considered all my possibilities and eventually someone recommended this field,” says Samaraie.
For some young women, the active lifestyle of a journalist and the adrenalin rush that results from deadline reporting is the main attraction.
Natasha Zulfiqar is an 11th grader at a girls’ school in Riyadh and wants to pursue a career in journalism here in the Kingdom.
“I want to be part of what’s going on in the world and write it down and give people my point of view,” she says. “Journalists usually talk about people in high places, but I want to give ordinary people a chance to express their views as well.”
Natasha says she wishes her school offered courses in media and journalism, adding that the English Language and Literature courses taught at her school do stress the improvement of writing but not communication skills. Her school, she laments, does not have any student-run publication, like a regular newsletter.
Although there are a number of women working as staff members at Al-Riyadh most work as free-lancers, according to Talaat Wafa, the editor in chief of its sister publication Riyadh Daily. “They all contribute to the paper and are doing a good job,” he adds.
They do this in spite of the fact that many of the women lack formal training in journalism or media studies.
Dr Mubarak Al-Hamzi, head of the department of media studies at King Abdul Aziz University, recently said that the main hindrance is the absence of women’s sections in the Kingdom’s media departments. In response to increasing demand, his own university department is interested in opening a women’s section, he said, but for the time being, the choices for women who wish to pursue higher education are limited.
Generally, the only fields open to them are those that are commonly thought of as disciplines where women are most likely to succeed and find jobs: administration, medicine and teaching.
With so few resources for a career in journalism, one wonders what draws these women into this particular profession. One reason may be the improvements that have taken place in the journalistic climate in the Kingdom over the past few years. Many journalists who are using the print media to draw attention to important social issues and concerns previously swept under the carpet but now openly debated.
As journalists, women have the chance to actively participate in their community and to voice their concerns on matters that affect them, their family and the rest of society.
