Najla Al Rostamani :
HOW MANY women in the UAE hold senior executive posts in newsrooms and media outlets? How many occupy leadership positions – not the decorative titles but those that lends them authority as professionals within their respective field of expertise?
The field of media and journalism of course can be a good representative example of other fields where there is a serious absence of women in any high-rank position. So why, despite vigorous governmental institutional efforts to bring women’s issues to the fore, there is still a lack of progress for the advancement of women in leadership positions at the workplace? This is not about the first or the only woman at the helm, but more about having a group of women there as the norm.
It has been a long journey for women in this country to reach where they have thus far. Backed by their education and supported by various official policies, women that have entered the workforce over the past few decades have slowly and painstakingly persevered as they carved a niche for themselves. They have won the challenge of trying to prove their calibre as productive workers in their organisation, with co-workers, and society at large. But this seems to be not good enough. We still do not see as many women as there should be, spread equally across senior executive posts, even after so many years of an evolving developmental process that has transformed this country on so many levels.
The UAE government has made women’s presence in leadership posts as one of its top priorities. It is now a policy; one that all organisations – media and otherwise – should be complying with. The stance is no longer that of encouraging women to enter the workforce. Instead, it is to create an environment wherein women are able to pursue their careers and advance, based on merit, up the professional ladder with a heightened focus on Emirati women to be more visible in boardrooms. Empowering women to become a significant contributor in the decision making process is no longer a matter that organisations can opt out from.
The authorities have been at the forefront of advocating a policy of inclusiveness of working women. It is no secret that over the past few years such efforts have geared up momentum as it reflects the thinking at a senior level that women stand on an equal footing as their counterparts when it comes to their ability to contribute to society. There is no scope for disagreement or difference on this argument. So why have women been shunned away from executive posts in newsrooms? Where are the women in leadership positions in media outlets?
At times, social stigma is used; if not abused, as a justification. Family related obligations, social constraints, and the multiple roles that women have to carry out are all obstacles – it is claimed – to an advancing career. It is as if women are being blamed for who they are and for their attempt to be superwomen juggling so many tasks that others are obliging them to carry out inside and outside the workplace. But is it about the social or the corporate attitudes towards women? Using such a reasoning to criticize women for making a choice or a preference is like blaming the patient for falling sick. This reasoning no longer holds water and in fact, reflects a bias towards women. They cannot be all and everything at the same time.
The real question for the management of any newsroom or media outlet is to ask itself what it has done to promote and support women who have a proven track record in terms of their contribution to their organisation. Without this, media outlets in the UAE will never fill in any senior executive post as the scale will always be tilted in the opposite direction. It is ironic how some media do their due diligence in extensive coverage of all aspects of women’s empowerment when marking a commemorative occasion or when an official ruling is announced. Yet these same media outlets seriously lag behind in gearing women to take on the top job at the helm within their own organisation.
Surely, this will never change; no matter which magic wand is swirled. Media organisations have to make an effort towards it in order to make it happen. In other words, there will be a need not only to plant the seed, but also to enable an environment that will make it grow not kill it. This means that over a period of 5 to 10 years or so, talented Emirati women of calibre are offered training, coaching, mentoring, responsibility and authority so that in due course they are tested as they attain the experience and exposure that makes them eligible to lead a newsroom or media entity. Otherwise, women in the field will always be there as a sheer beautification façade.
Unfortunately, today the reality is that those who occupy the top tier of a media house or entity are scarce at best and non-existent at worst. The outlook is bleak as the headcount is sparse.
(Najla Al Rostamani is a UAE-based columnist and media consultant with interests in local and international socio-political affairs.)
