Ethiopian-Israeli women working in mainstream journalism: Linking Ethiopian, black and Israeli identities through news-making

Abstract

Taking an intersectional approach, this study conceptualizes how the complex subjectivities of Ethiopian-Israeli women journalists – who contend with dual exclusion and discrimination (racial and gendered) – emerge in their everyday work experiences. Thematic analysis of narrative interviews with 12 Ethiopian-Israeli women journalists reveals a complicated picture of their professional experience derived from the intersection of their gender and racial identities. They face barriers to integrating into the profession and the challenges of tokenism, but they also find sources of strength in their professional experience through the advantages of Ethiopian femininity and the opportunity to play advocacy roles. I argue that while their societal positioning renders them marginalized within dominant structures, it also allows them to confront oppressive dominant structures. Their journalistic identity empowers them by linking their perceived advocacy role deriving from their marginal Ethiopian identity with their Israeli identity.