Coalition For Women In Journalism

The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) is a New York-based non-profit organization that functions on a global scale. The organization focuses on the safety, advocacy and professional development of women journalists.

Background

The Coalition For Women In Journalism, also known as The Coalition or CFWIJ, is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) that focuses on the support of women journalists around the globe. It was founded by Kiran Nazish in 2017.

It was launched as a pro-bono organization but started operating as an NGO in 2018.

The Coalition was founded by a Pakistani journalist, Kiran Nazish, with the support of a network of colleagues from different countries. “Instead of competing with each other in a male-created, male-dominated environment, we want to empower women by empowering each other.” Kiran said in an interview. The organization has chapters in the MIddle East, Mexico/Latin America and Asia. After its launch in 2017, CFWIJ became the first not-for-profit to offer mentorship to mid-career women journalists from western and non-western countries. The Pakistan Chapter for the organization was launched in 2018 with notable women journalists in the industry.

Mentorship program

As part of its mentorship program, The Coalition has mentored dozens of women journalists across the world. Its mentors are divided in three categories - global mentors, mentors based in chapters (Mexico/ Latin America and Asia) and #HEFORSHE allies.

Advocacy work

The Coalition's advocacy work involves rallying for the safety and equality of women journalists both on and off the field. It has been known to focus on cases that sometimes slip the news circuit. In November 2018, the organization held a #HearMeToo roundtable in Pakistan, which focused on the gaps in the industry that women journalists had to face. The event looked at whether ‘hard’ beats were made inaccessible for women journalists in the industry. During 2019, the organization seems to have produced a couple of delegations for different issues related to women journalists. One meeting took place in Pakistan in July 2019 with Human Rights minister Shireen Mazari where the government took a clear stance against harassment of women journalists for the first time in the history of the country. A month later, in July 2019, the organization took another delegation to the Federal Ombudsperson for harassment Kashmala Tariq where the two agreed to collaborate to help build a harassment-free work environment for women journalists. Towards the end of 2019, the organization held a series of events in Turkey, including talks and delegations, focusing on the safety of women journalists. Members of the organization, including founding director Kiran Nazish met with EAK Turkey, took a delegation to government officials with CHP WOmen's Branch, and conducted a discussion propagating safety for women journalists in collaboration with Turkey's Journalists’ Union (TGS). In October 2019, the organization held a number of talks and discussions at the FELICH festival in Mexico.

Partners and sponsors

The organization is supported by The Craig Newmark Philanthropies. Its partners include, RJI, The Groundtruth Project, SPJ, Article 19, UMass Amherst, Splice, Birn, 10% Happier, Khabar Lahariya, Pen International, AST, TGS, and Women in Journalism Africa.

JSafe

During February 2020, the organization began beta testing a new app called JSafe. The app has been developed in collaboration with the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri. It took a year to create and is currently available on iPhones. An android version is also said to be under development. The app is a part of CFWIJ's advocacy efforts. It helps journalists, especially women journalists, report threats, attacks and abuse that they face while they are working. Journalists can ask for a follow up or look for help through the app.