Salvadoran journalists join march to demand work free of harassment
San Salvador, Mar 7 (efe-epa).- A group of journalists and communicators joined a march for International Women’s Day in El Salvador on Sunday to demand media and journalistic coverage free of gender-based violence.
“We have come as a bloc of women journalists because we already know that gender-based violence drags us down and reaches us in all areas (…) and in the media there is also violence against women journalists,” Metzi Rosales, from the digital medium Alharaca, told Efe.
The Association of Journalists in El Salvador (APES) prepared a study that shows that women “have been harassed in the media in which they work, and by sources,” she said.
The APES report indicates that 90.38 percent of journalists and communicators stated that there are “discriminatory practices” in the media, while 96.15 percent reported “problems of sexual harassment” in their work.
All the journalists consulted indicated that they suffer sexual harassment during their field work.
Hundreds of women protested on the main streets of the Salvadoran capital for International Women’s Day, dressed in shirts alluding to their demands, and carrying banners.
“Mom, today I am marching for you and all my abused sisters” and “Machismo kills” were some of the messages that were seen at the demonstration, including some against President Nayib Bukele.
In the first part of the demonstration, measures against Covid-19 were respected, but when arriving at Gerardo Barrios Square in the center of the capital, physical distancing did not take place.
El Salvador is considered by Amnesty International as one of the most dangerous countries for women due to high levels of femicide and gender-based violence.
In 2020, the number of femicides registered by the police was 70, approximately 37 percent less than the 111 registered in 2019. If the register of 2020 is compared to 2018, when 232 femicides were reported, a drop of 70 percent is recorded.
Official figures indicate that of the 1,322 homicides registered in 2020, in 9.75 percent of the cases the victims were women. EFE-EPA
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