GAZA — “It was a horrible moment, hearing sounds of the Israeli strikes. However, I carried my camera and went out to the street, regardless the risks I would face then.”

“We as women journalists find a number of hardships throughout media work in the region. For instance, when I have some work and need to spend some extra hours, simply I cannot , for women cannot come back home late,” Samar Aldreimly, a Gazan female journalist spoke out during a special workshop on the image of women in local media that was held this week at the Palestinian Women’s Affairs Center in Gaza city.

The workshop tackled women’s issues in local media outlets, and how women here are viewed in the various fields of media production in the coastal territory, including print media, radio, TV, and cinema production.

Participants emphasized on the need for more female media work in the region, as Palestinian women have never been taking part in many aspects of the Gaza society, beginning with the Israeli occupation of the strip in 1967, up to the last Israeli war on Gaza in January 2009.

Samar told IslamOnline.net that the domination of men over women in workplaces have somehow undermined the rold of female media practitioners. However, Aldreimly blamed women media practitioners for being unable to upgrade their status for what she termed women acceptance of being exploited.

Writer Hidaya Shamoun from Gaza echoed the same views, casting her belief that women role in media has been known for traditionalism for prolonged years now.

“Despite the existence of widespread international resolutions that have empowered women status, especially in the field of media, male media practitioners are still viewed as the dominant media workers, while women have a minor media role,” she explained.