Sri Lanka is one of the most populated countries in South Asia. The population here is more than 22 million. Sri Lanka is famous for the production of tea, coconuts, and seasoned spices. You might be curious that this is the reason that English people came to the Sub-continent. Yes, spices were the reason that attracted them here. Other than spices, coffee, and tea are also the reason behind Sri Lanka’s fame.
India produces 312 Metric tons of coffee annually whose credit goes to Sri Lanka. Of the things that stain Sri Lanka’s reputation is the condition of journalism in the country, especially female journalism. Despite modernity, females still struggle with many problems among which workplace harassment tops the chart. This short read specifically talks about the situation of female journalism in the country and also talks about the movement that is a direct result of the following challenges.
Journalism in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is a free country that became independent in 1948. Other than Sinhala, Tamil, Hindi, and English speakers are abundantly present in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan journalism talks about everything that happens in and out of the country. The abundance of languages creates a need for translation and interpretation services in order to make it easy for the multilingual audience to understand what is happening in the country. Professional Hindi translation services efficiently translate the Sinhala language into Hindi for the Hindi-speaking community.
Journalism in Sri Lanka is divided into two parts. One is female journalism and the other is male one. The difference arises from every perspective either its pay or facilities or any other thing.
Female Journalism and Its Challenges
Sri Lankan journalism works hard on the delivery of truth. These journalists go beyond and visit even dangerous places to cover live footage for their audience. Despite the hardships of this field, there are female journalists who suffer more than that. These females have to suffer from harassment and inequality at work to keep their jobs and fulfill the responsibility of capturing the truth.
Sri Lankan journalism takes aid from a professional Sinhala language translator in order to make it easy for the multilingual audience.
Workplace Harassment
Women are often addressed with negative terms in the workplace by fellow men. Often these men claim that such comments are part of light jokes, but making someone uncomfortable is never part of any joke. Today, educational courses are a permanent part of the Sri Lankan curriculum that raises awareness on harassment issues and offers solutions.
One of the female journalists in Sri Lanka shared one of her experiences of harassment on Twitter, Sarah Kellapatha. She explained that at work men call them with derogatory terms and often text at night asking about what they are wearing.
Gender Pay Difference
There is a huge pay gap between male and female journalists. This difference ranges from 34% to 22%. Women who work in the field and cover live incidents are the ones who get the least wages. However, with the laws, this issue is resolved but the rate of progress is very slow.
Enhanced Murder Rate
In Sri Lanka, female journalists still encounter problems when it comes to their safety. If just talking about the last 20 years, more than 1668 journalists have been murdered among which the number of female ones is greater.
Role of Women in Journalism, Sri Lanka Programme (WJSL)
Since 2019, an organization, Women in Journalism, Sri Lanka Programme (WJSL) has been solely working for women, especially in cases of female harassment. Other than WJSL, SLYJA (Sri Lanka Young Journalists Association) is a vigorous community in Sri Lanka. These movements and parties are specifically committed to women’s safety. And they not only work at the country level but also work in conjunction with international communities to bring peace to the world.
Sinhala translation makes it trouble-free for Sinhalese speakers to comprehend such issues and find ways to resolve them. Sri Lankan journalists vow to deliver truth despite the hardships and death threats that they face.
This country is influenced by its neighboring country, India. Also, there are many Hindi speakers in Sri Lanka. A Hindi translation company becomes important in such a situation where it translates the Sinhala language for the Hindi-speaking community.
Final Words!
The main task of Sri Lankan journalists is to deliver to the audience accurate knowledge about the current situation of the country. Female journalists are the ones who have to go through further problems to hold their stance in society. They face difficulties like workplace harassment and huge differences in wages. However, there are many organizations that are working to remove such barriers so that women can thrive in society.
