The Mizoram Journalist Association celebrated its golden jubilee on Thursday with a two-day program, with the Chief Minister Zoramthanga as the Chief Guest on the first day of celebrations.
The Mizoram Journalist Association was started in 1973 on March 23, when a small group of then media persons gathered at the house of L Rinoma, the editor and owner of Tawrbawm, a daily vernacular newspaper. Since then, the association has grown substantially and now has 193 members across 11 districts of Mizoram.
However, amid all the celebrations, a small detail popped up. Of the 193, only 9 are women, and they make up around 4% of the total number.
The owner of Tawrhbawm, L Rinoma, passed away in October 1995, and after his demise, his wife Lalsangluaii Sailo, who became the first female MJA member, took over the paper. Lalsangluaii was inducted as a member of the MJA just a few months after her husband’s death on an emergency basis. She remains the only woman to have held the post of Executive member of the Mizoram Journalist Association General Headquarters in the past 50 years.
“My husband started Tawrhbawm in 1968 as an entertainment paper to lift the moods of the people as that was the time of ‘Rambuai,’ (Mizoram’s troubled years where the Mizo people were facing atrocities under the Indian army). He partnered with two of his friends to publish jokes and entertainment as the Mizo people were in a dismal mood,” Lalsangluaii told EastMojo.
She believes Tawrhbawm might be the only paper that has continued a regular publishing routine to date. When she took over the paper after her husband passed away, she was also looking after their three children, the youngest of which was just in grade two. “I did face some difficulties when I took over the paper. But since I had helped my husband a few times before, I was familiar with the process. I also took the help of others and I got very good support,” she said.
When asked if she believes the media world is a challenging arena for the Mizo women, she said, “There is no specific area of difficulty for women. It is just because most women are not interested in this field. If they pursued this field with a strong passion, they would not face any problem.”
K Zabiaka, the owner and publisher of Newslink who has been working in print media since 1987, shared Lalsangluaii’s opinion, “Women don’t see journalism as a career option. Even today, there are just a few women who are active reporters. People still have the mindset that journalism is not a space for women. Especially in the olden days, women did not see the act of writing as something they could be capable of. Now, times have changed, and some women have started entering the field of journalism. But it is a tough job, sometimes, you have to miss meals, the hours are odd. And most women would prefer to sit in one place and work rather than get in the field. There is no leaning towards women joining the field of journalism, we need to have more awareness.”
Among women journalists in Mizoram, Emmy Lawbei gained much attention in 2018 when she became the victim of a police lathi charge while working for News18 Assam Northeast. She was covering the Mizoram-Assam border conflict and had to be rushed to the Bairabi hospital for treatment. When EastMojo asked her about prospects for Mizo women in journalism, she said, “There is a lack of awareness about journalism and the media industry. Young people in general, not just women, do not see journalism as a career prospect.”
She also believes the opportunities provided to women are limited. “The women journalist role is restricted to anchoring with very few and almost non-existence of prominent field reporters to be idealised and idolized by the audience. Society and parents at large still see engineering/doctor as the most secure job and also ‘respectable’ and ‘honourable’ as a service to the society, a notion which is culturally deep-rooted. Journalism pays less compared to other professions, and parents often encourage their wards to look for government jobs that will provide them security,” she added.
Apart from journalism, Mizoram, which is known to be a patriarchal society, has seen under-representation and misrepresentation of women in various other media forms and fields. A study conducted by Vanlalmuanpuii Chawngthu, a student of Mizoram University, on ‘Representation of Women in Mizo Advertisements,’ found that women were represented in the Mizo media to be ‘engaging only in the field of domestics or only as a sexual object’ and that women are being ‘underrepresented, misrepresented and stereotyped in the advertisements in print media in the state.’
As per the 2011 census, the sex ratio in Mizoram is 975 females per 1000 males. In the last election, women voters outnumbered male voters by 16, 573. However, in the current legislative assembly, there are no women MLAs. Since 1972, there have been only four women MLAs in the state.
Irene Lalruatkimi, Assistant News Editor of All India Radio, believes that amidst the biases towards women, the world of journalism is a place where hardworking people stand out, “We have the same opportunity as men in front of us and we need to learn to make use of these opportunities. As per our situation, there are times we have to struggle, especially after getting married and having children, we have to work harder. It is a world where time is crucial, and if a deadline is not met, it could be too late. It is also a world with no specific timing due to unpredictable incidents and accidents. It is a full-time job where one has to be ready at all times.”
“It is a work that women can do,” she continued, “Journalism needs women who are good with reasoning, good storytellers and passionate about justice. Ultimately journalism, like any other work, is a place where the hardworking will stand out.”
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