Her Story. Are we giving non-white women journalists enough agency to report on the stories they believe in?

Her Story will be a panel on the experience of women journalists who are not white European or American, and who are treated very differently from their white counterparts.

"As a woman journalist working for European and American media, I was forced to report on stories I had no interest in. More often than not, I worked on personal stories about being Muslim and a woman or being Pakistani and a woman. Even more interesting stories about art, culture or politics in Pakistan was denied me, those being done by the seasoned white male reporters on the newspapers editorial desks. While living and reporting from Berlin, if I proposed a story on alternative art in Berlin or the state of the German immigration authorities, I was told that those stories weren't as interesting as stories about life in Pakistan. Interestingly, I hadn't lived in Pakistan for many years. Neither was South Asia a beat I was interested in. But a journalist, especially a freelance reporter, had to eat and pay rent. My white European colleagues didn't seem to have these issues. They were flying to Bahrain or Belgium and reported on whatever their hearts desired. As a journalist, I did many of these stories in the hopes of one day being able to sell stories other those perceived to be my stories. Eventually, I got tired and moved back to Pakistan, to my hometown." Hani Yousuf

This panel will tackle the issue of women of non-white background who feel compelled to tell stories that aren't necessarily theirs but which are perceived by those with a primarily Western perspective to be theirs.