sophie foster, the associate editor of the fiji times, gave a speech recently at the fiji women's rights movement's "emerging leaders forum" graduation ceremomy. i thought i'd share some excerpts here:
There is no doubt that the media industry is facing a tremendous challenge trying to defend the right of people to freedom of expression....
It’s of vital importance that the truth be known, that the truth be reported widely and that there be free discussion around matters of community or national interest....
But it takes courage to be able to look real issues in the eye. It takes courage to be able to sustain threats, bullying, intimidation, and even firebombing.
So why do we do the job we do? Why do journalists continue to turn up to work every day? Why continue to report on stories as they always did – even if it means the stories could be crossed off with a cheap black pen every night? It’s because we cannot and must not stand silently or idly by. Our duty is to continue to uphold the right to freedom of expression, to gather a variety of views, to provide our people with information with which they can make informed choices.
And that’s where the good news comes in…
Across the world, women have over the decades developed very personal knowledge of the challenges that face us today… the culture of silence, the lack of a voice. And yet despite these challenges women continue to celebrate small victories every day. You may not know it, but the core of our news team – the reporters who go out every day and seek out the truth – are mostly women, and young women at that. We have seen these young women tackle issues that directly affect our readers with tenacity, courage and compassion....
In the words of one prominent female academic: “Are women better leaders than men? Not necessarily. Nor are men necessarily better leaders than women. But in many ways women bring experiences and capabilities that are unlike men when solving tough problems. And considering our current state, we could stand an infusion of this type of leader.”
It was Albert Einstein who said “Insanity consists of doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.” Unless a wider set of views, opinions and approaches are taken into account, unless more young women are mentored into leadership, we may find that our future cannot be any different to what has always been.
hat tip to karlo mila-schaaf who posted this on the aotearoa ethnic network.
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