Journalists from print and electronic media on Friday stressed that media should the highlight matters related to gender equity and improve reporting on the subject like other issues, in order to raise awareness among general public.
They also called for information sharing between media personnel and NGO employees working on the issue. Media persons said there was still room for improvement in reporting about gender issues.
They were sharing their experiences at a sensitisation session organised by Individualland Pakistan in collaboration with the Aurat Foundation and USAID under the title of “Focus Group Discussion with Media Personnel”.
The session was aimed at receiving feedback from media personnel who had attended previous media sensitisation sessions on gender equity in Islamabad. The objective of the initiative was to sensitise the electronic and print media regarding the issue of women empowerment and use it as a medium for advocacy.
The participants also stressed the need for an action to spread awareness about prevailing gender inequality.
The discussion also focussed on the sensitivity of communicating the women-related issues through media and selection of appropriate messages. The journalists stressed that the trend of confusing women’s rights with human rights should be discouraged. At the same time, they said in rural areas of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, gender equity was a major issue of human rights.
They said the non government organisations needed to held similar programmes in the rural areas of the country for effective campaigning.
During the discussion moderated by Shaukat Ali Ashraf of Individualland Pakistan, the journalists welcomed the initiative.
Some journalists said it was very difficult to work on gender-based issues due to cultural and social taboos, while the importance of the subject was not appreciated by media organisations in particular and the society in general.
The participant were of the view that the problem of gender inequity existed mostly in rural areas rather than in urban centres and asked the NGOs focus on less developed regions.
Individualland, with the partnership of Aurat Publication and Information Service Foundation under the USAID supported Gender Equity Programme (GEP) in collaboration with the Asia Foundation, has initiated a project to sensitize the media personnel belonging to print and electronic media, regarding gender equality. The project will encompass interviews and surveys, trainings and focus group discussions of media personnel. It is envisioned that, the media will act as a tool for public outreach, to positively change the perception of the society, on gender equity and women empowerment.
