Sujata's conquest:

One article at a time

by Dhaneshi Yatawara

Petite in stature, passionate in belief, Indian journalist Sujata Madhok isn't someone to take things lightly, especially when it comes to women in journalism.

"In a world where women are commodified and objectified, it is important for women journalists to treat themselves seriously and with dignity to maintain high standards of professionalism," she says in her no nonsense tone, showing the steel that has seen her at the forefront of the battle for social changes.

An activist and a development journalist on women's issues she started her career at the Democratic World Weekly and fought her way to becoming a woman of consequence.

Here, Sujata, who was in Colombo for a series of events organised by the International Federation of Journalists and South Asia Media and Solidarity Network, talks about the challenges of being a journalist in a chauvinistic environment, women's movement in India, responsibility of women journalists and journalism being a good platform to make social changes

Excerpts of the interview

Q: What made you join the media field, especially at a time when it was not considered a job suitable for a young woman?

A: Being young and idealistic may be. In my college days I was interested in student union politics - broadly the left. I wanted to make a change in the society. To me, journalism was a good place to initiate social change. Perhaps misguided enough to think so, those days!

Q: How challenging was it to get in to the field?

A: North India in particular was very chauvinistic. And people like me were by and large the first generation of working women of the middle class.

Women at that time wanted employment going beyond the traditional role. Journalism was different to traditional jobs that society thought suitable for women. The time I joined journalism coincided with the emergence of women's movement in India. I was more interested in the women's movement than journalism. It was very exciting as we were breaking new ground.

Q: What change did it bring to the women's movement?

A: The women's movement started in the late 1970s with dowry deaths - which were actually murders and several horrific cases of rapes. So journalism created a good platform for me to write strongly on these issues. Despite these, murders were happening under the public gaze, and the media was initially a bit reluctant to carry these stories.

After a few horrific cases, the media started giving more attention. Initially media reported the anti- dowry rallies because they were a novelty at that time. Then when it became common the rallies lost their significance. That was the attitude of the media. But with all these developments writing about women's rights became acceptable. Except that even now it is women who write on women and gender issues. I do not see many men writing on gender issues.

Q: How would you compare the challenges women journalists face in the past and the present?

A: The situation in India and Sri Lanka is more or less the same. Those days only few women were in a media organization, which included not only journalists but secretaries and receptionists as well. So the women were watched, scrutinised and a lot of unwanted attention was there. This is changing to some extent. Around 1977, when the magazine I was working for was going to close down, I requested a transfer to the news desk. My editor said, "Ms. Madhok, there are no women in the news desk and there never will be." Within a few years there were couple of women working as news reporters in the news desk and after 15 years there was a woman news editor. So therefore I do see a big change.

At present, there are more women in media organisations and are more accepted. Women have made their way. And there are some outstanding women journalists in areas where women were scarce to find at that time, like politics, business and finance. Women have proved that they are competent as anyone else.

Q: Generally in any field, including journalism, women have to perform and prove that they are extraordinarily better than their male colleagues in order to receive merit based recognition. What is your point of view?

A: Social attitudes do not change overnight. There will always be some amount of resistance. Most professions are still male clubs. And it is harder for a woman to get acceptance in the work place. I'm not saying that all men do not want women in the field or treat them unfairly, there are different people with different opinions. With time, the perceptions are changing as well. I hope younger men would think differently and broadly.

Q: Do you think making a change is compulsory for a journalist by using her profession?

A: Everybody need not look at it like that. Some will look at it only as a profession. But it is a platform to make a change.

Q: As an activist you have been observing the changes of women in journalism. What is the responsibility of women, their part to play in journalism to maintain the high professional standards?

A: Be competent professionals. Follow whatever training you managed to find. Read and think as journalism is more self taught. Develop a specialisation. Create a network of women journalists. Find a good mentor.

There is sexual harassment in the journalism field which is largely unspoken. Even in the whole world, the perception towards women is changing - they are commodified, objectified. Advertising, beauty contests, fashion shows do that. That is a challenging area women have to deal with. How to react to the change of attitude in sexuality? Should women flaunt it or keep it separate from the profession? How should a woman journalist establish her self identity - where does it come from? Is it from how beautiful she looks or does it come from the confidence and competence she shows in her work? Women must treat themselves seriously and with dignity. Then only people will treat you with dignity.

Q : How would you see the present women participation in trade union activities?

A: Unfortunately, we in India do not have a strong trade union culture. Only a small section of the working class is in the organised sector and within that only some trades, industries are unionised. The vast majority of working people are in the unorganised, non unionised sector and lack all rights. Women are a small minority in the organised sector. Naturally there are few women active in unions and even fewer take up leadership positions. The current political climate is adverse for workers and their unions are fighting to stop the rollback of labour laws by the government under pressure from industry. As for media, newspapers do have unions but television is not yet unionised. That struggle lies in the future.