The Women in News and Sports (WINS) workshop got off to a good start at the Tanoa Plaza Hotel in Suva yesterday.

Journalists, athletes and representatives from sporting bodies came together to discuss the challenges that women in sports and journalists face on a day to day basis.

The workshop is organised by the Australian PACMAS regional media assistance project,

WINS facilitator Joanna Lester said such a workshop is important because it is a way females, whether athletes or journalists, can reflect on their role and find solutions.

“Holding workshops like this is important because in almost every country, female sports journalists in some cases are in the minority,” Lester said.

“It can be a bit of a lonely place sometimes covering male dominated sports.

“It is often you are the only woman in the room or on the field and it is good to hear others experiences and reflect on your work and the challenges you face and possible solutions by hearing from others.

“We also encourage female journalists to cover men’s sport and men to cover women’s sport.”

While it may be a learning curve for the participants, it is also a learning curve for Lester who is eager and excited to understand the context of women in sports and female sports journalists in Fiji.

“It was a great day one, for me personally, I haven’t worked in Fiji before, so I really wanted to hear everyone’s perspective on the context here and the context of women in sports and journalism,” she said.

“I am just looking forward to getting a better understanding of the context here in Fiji because most of my work has been in Papua New Guinea and other countries.”

The first day included a landscape activity where participants were able to list down challenges they faced in their work related to culture, gender, sports and journalism.

This was followed by a panel discussion facilitated by veteran journalist Satish Narain which was opened by Australian High Commissioner Margaret Twomey.

The panelists included Fiji SUN deputy sports editor Anasilini Ratuva, beach volleyball athlete Laite Nima and Weightlifting Fiji coach and sports administrator Della Shaw.

Edited by Osea Bola