Democracy cannot be achieved in the real sense until women are provided with equal rights, said speakers during a seminar on Monday. The seminar titled ‘Women journalists towards democracy, challenges and opportunities’ was organised at a local hotel by the Women Media Centre (WMC) in collaboration with the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
The speakers said that the media has enough capacity to accommodate female journalists, and that it could play its due role in educating the masses regarding democracy and their fundamental rights.
They said that both the print and the electronic media could play a significant role in creating awareness as regards women’s rights, minorities’ rights and the rights of other deprived citizens of the country.
They also said that until the year 2000, there was only one television channel and radio station in Pakistan, because of which there were few opportunities in the electronic media and there was a very small number of female journalists in the field.
However, they added, after the emergence of new private television channels, new doors of opportunity opened up for female journalists and they have taken up those opportunities. The speakers said that female journalists are facing more problems in the filed than male journalists. They said that democracy is not just a name used for casting votes, but it should be propagated for raising awareness regarding the basic rights of the citizens. WMC Executive Director Fauzia Shaheen, Khurshid Haider, Sabeen Agha, Urooj Zia, Humaira Sheikh, Zahida Abbasi, Dr Huma Mir, Sharmila Farooqi, Soofia Yazdani, Rafia Taj and others also spoke on the occasion. Following the discussion, certificates were distributed among those who had participated in and completed the 10-day practical media training course arranged by the WMC.During the course, the participants had received training about the responsibilities of the elected representatives, scripting, voice-over and camera handling.
