主播大秀

As the Generation Equality Forum Paris examines issues of gender equality, including in media, Mehr Mursal Amiri shares her experience and her reflections as an Afghan journalist.

I started my media career in 2018. It began almost by accident. I went with my friend to support her for a screen test and the producer asked if I would be interested, and would I like a screen test too? I decided to try it. A few days later I received a call to join Ariana television.

When I first started, my family didn’t support the idea. Working in media is not a traditionally accepted career for women in Afghanistan. Many parents and families still don’t like to see their daughters and sisters in the media.

But things are changing now. After seeing the impact of my work today, my family supports me, and they are proud of me. I am encouraged that my younger sister says she wants to follow my path.

The risks involved

But there are still great cultural obstacles for women in every field in Afghanistan. And in media it’s even harder. The reason might be that in media, they are too visible. A media job requires you to have a presence on social media and deal with the public, where you will be labelled, harassed and trolled.

Personal security is a big risk for Afghan women working in media. But I am proud to say that I have resisted these threats and have not given up, because I know that by doing my job, I am doing my part to inspire our young generation and helping to change the life of Afghanistan’s people by providing them information, educating and entertaining them.

When I started working for media, the gender gap was so great. I believed that gender equality didn’t mean anything. This was true for all media outlets in Afghanistan. Even today, we hardly have content that is about and for women.

The national broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan is working hard to change this. Just two years ago, only 8 per cent of RTA’s staff were female. That included cleaners and behind-the-scenes staff. That number has increased dramatically now and, most importantly, it now has over 60% female representation on screen and in our programmes.

Shifting the balance

RTA staff now take a course about respect, to create awareness about gender equality and stereotypes. And they are working to start an Academy to train more female journalists and make them ready for leadership roles. The idea is to have equality in every single department and leadership role in RTA.

Media in Afghanistan have come a long way in 20 years, just like women’s rights and opportunities have. There are more young women like me who are educated, well-spoken, and contributing to society. We can see more female journalists around the country now, telling stories that matter to women.

主播大秀 Media Action is also part of this - they work with female journalists around the country, and with RTA on the programme Open Jirga which includes a female presenter and women’s views on the peace process, government and other current issues. 

But there still aren’t enough training or opportunities for women in media. We need more support and more opportunities to talk about women’s issues, and understanding of how issues are relevant to women. We face great challenges still in how we can reach more women in remote and rural areas.

And amid daily violence and fragile peace talks, we need support to maintain this progress.

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Mehr Mursal Amiri was previously based in Kabul.