Astrig Agopian - Armenia/France Collapse
"As a woman journalist working in a war zone, you are less likely to be taken serious, making it even harder to get information. Another identity factor that has played a role in some specific situations and contexts, has been my ethnic origin. With a recognisable last name and my “Middle Eastern” appearance, I have often been subjected to racist comments and inappropriate behaviour. But when I report, I realise that this work is so significant which motivated me to continue documenting and giving people a voice: in the end that is all that matters."
Listen to Astrig telling her story here:
Being a woman has generally made my work harder. When I report on the ground - and that happens not only in war zones, but everywhere, even in Europe - I have to deal with inappropriate behaviour and comments from people I encounter during work, or even from strangers walking by. As a woman journalist working in a war zone, you are less likely to be taken seriously, making it even harder to get information. Another identity factor that has played a role in some specific situations and contexts, has been my ethnic origin. With a recognisable last name and my “Middle Eastern” appearance, I have often been subjected to racist comments and inappropriate behaviour. I have gained a lot of experience working at serious media outlets and covering wars, but with my age and gender, I am often still treated as if I am a child rather than a professional journalist.
While doing my job, I was interrupted during filming, touched inappropriately and men have tried to kiss me while waiting alone to go ‘live’. Several times when I gave my number to men for purely professional reasons related to reporting or security on the ground, I was harassed, called at night and received inappropriate texts. I also received many online messages and emails in response to particular stories that contained certain insults, references or (death)threats related to my gender. The price women journalists have to pay for just doing their job is too big – it leads to negative effects on their mental health and in some cases they actually get killed.
These attitudes can be very discouraging and make me want to stop my work in order to be less exposed to such behaviour. But I try to remain courageous and do my job because there are already too few of us. The first times, I did not know how to react properly, so I just deleted everything and was scared for days. Later, I started talking about it with colleagues and realised it happened often. From then on, I changed all my social media settings and started being more careful.
I love being a journalist and I also think it is very important. For the past three years, I have been reporting on wars and their consequences in Armenia and Ukraine. In those moments, I realised that this work is so significant which motivated me to continue documenting and giving people a voice: in the end that is all that matters.
To all women journalists: you are not alone. There are still not enough women journalists, but there are more and more who have gone through this and can still follow their own path.