Al-Hazza'a made the comments after it was recently revealed that only 5 percent of full-time staff at the Kingdom’s 12 newspapers is female and that women journalists in the newspaper industry make up 22.7 percent of the overall workforce.
The statistics were disclosed at a symposium organized by the Princess Jawaher bint Naif Center for Women's Research and Development in Alkhobar.
“Saudi universities do not have media colleges for women, which could play a prominent role in increasing the number of female journalists nationwide. The Ministry of Culture and Information is always looking to boost the number of women in both print and broadcast media,” said Al-Hazza’a.
He added that women journalists can play a bigger role than their male counterparts.
“Women journalists can write in many fields other than fashion, style, health and social issues. For example, there is a big number of female journalists who can write on politics, local news, the economy and sport,” Al-Hazza’a said.
“The low number of qualified journalists has led to many poorly qualified people working in the media. This is why a lot of press associations prefer to hire specialized male journalists and depend on female freelancers as assistants … most women working in journalism are not experts, but they are qualified enough to become full-time journalists,” he said.
“The Ministry of Culture and Information has encouraged press associations to increase the number of full-time female staff. To ensure the rights of women journalists, each newspaper should hire women as full-timers rather than on a freelance basis,” he added.
Working as journalists is not attractive for many young women because of the absence of a specific law that would defend their rights.
“Women journalists are facing many problems to find their way into journalism,” said Al-Hazza'a.
What Al-Hazza’a mentioned was echoed by Samirah Turkestani, the former head of the women's section of Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper and a presenter on Saudi TV's Channel 1.
“Most Saudi women journalists are forced to write on fashion, social issues, cooking and style just because they are women, while political and economic issues are given to male journalists,” said Turkestani.
The veteran journalist criticized the way duties are divided between male and female reporters.
“Both male and female journalists can write in many fields. They just need to be trained in developing their writing skills … the art of reporting requires skills beyond simple writing. It is not easy to write a proper news report or even come up with story ideas. Journalists must have the skills and background to properly convey news,” she added.
Turkestani said many officials do not regard women as proper journalists and that Saudi and non-Saudi female journalists experience identical problems.
Nadia Al-Sheikh, general manager of the public relations department at the Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services Programs and co-founder of the first public relations company in Saudi Arabia, called on women journalists to continue fighting for their rights.
“In the beginning of the 90s, it was very difficult to work in journalism or PR ... it was later that Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah established a communications college. This was considered the first step forward in supporting female journalists,” said Al-Sheikh.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture and Information has called for training courses to help journalists develop their writing skills.
“It is unfortunate that Saudi press associations are uninterested in launching training courses for journalists,” said Al-Hazza’a.
“Each press association should allocae a part of its budget to launch training courses and workshops. These courses should cover both Saudis and expatriates, but priority must be given to Saudis.”
