INAC organization in the framework of the project “Empowerment of women and girls in the media” realized a report in the district of Elbasan and Korça, financially supported by the Mediterranean Women’s Fund. In this study report are included 13 women journalists who work with local and national media in the district of Elbasan and Korça. Some of them have a long work experience, but there are also young journalists who are integrating into the labor market in these areas.

For the realization of the report “Respecting the rights of women in the local media for Elbasan and Korça”, we created a questionnaire which was completed by 13 journalists in both districts.

The purpose of this questionnaire was to understand better the problem and to identify the situation in respect of gender-based rights. The questionnaire was made with open and closed questions in order for the journalists to express their opinion. All the people who took part in questionnaire were women and girls. Most of those included in the questionnaire were aged between 30-40 years.

Journalists who participated in this survey were asked various questions related to their work, gender equality in the media, if they had experienced gender discrimination at work, what can we do to encourage positive changes regarding the low representation of women in decision-making roles in the media etc.

As we know the role of women in the media is very important and to understand better if they felt prejudice in their work, we asked them what they understand with “gender equality in the media”. And they gave different answers about this topic. Since discrimination is felt more by girls and women, these women were asked if they had felt discrimination in their professional career. Most of them answered with “No”, so they have not felt discrimination at work, while about 35% of them answered with “Yes”. Journalists were also asked if gender issues in Albania have attention and most of them answered that they do not have the right attention.

Another question that was asked to the journalists was “Why we don’t have a lot of women and girls in the media and in leadership positions in Albania?” Their answers were that in Albania there is no meritocracy, men are more corruptible than women, but there are also prejudices and gender stereotypes that only women can lead and women cannot.

The women and girls who completed this questionnaire are generally aware of their role in the function of emancipation of society and rights based on meritocracy. They have fought individually for their rights and have tried to gain their role in society through the media where they work.

The role of women in the media is several times more influential than an ordinary profession because through the image, the words, the topics they deal with, they have the ability to emancipate the society they belong to.

Through the questionnaire, they indicated that they need more training, to gain knowledge, to develop skills and to become aware of the essential role in gender equality.

Through networking, training, various exchanges with countries that have a tradition in achieving gender equality, as well as through the empowerment of models, role evaluation and identification of positive examples, there will be more women and girls, informed, empowered and more ready to fight for their rights and for the rights of women in the wider community.