To mark the International Women’s Day, an innovative code of ethics for gender sensitive reporting was launched here on Thursday to highlight the importance of media in changing attitude and behaviour on gender issues. Women Empowerment Group (WEG) and White Ribbon Campaign Pakistan (WRCP) organised the national conference on gender sensitive reporting.
In his inaugural address, British High Commissioner Adam Thomson said: “The recent achievements such as pro-women laws, efforts of women parliamentary caucus, and Pakistan’s Oscar-winning documentary represent important steps towards women’s rights in Pakistan.” However, Pakistan is still bottom of the league (ranked 133 out of 135 countries) in the global gender gap report. Pakistani women face substantial challenges which are not easy to overcome for any country but it is possible to make the difference to change the attitude and behaviour on gender issues” with the help of media.
Referring to case of his home-country, he said: “Despite years of legislation, there is still a marked pay gap between men and women in Britain.”
Gajus Scheltema, Ambassador of Kingdom of Netherlands, speaking on the occasion said: “Equal rights and opportunities for women in any society ensure the security and stability of the state.”
The WRCP identifies itself as the largest effort in the world of men working to end violence against women. Omer Aftab, country director of WRCP, said: “Justice can be provided by those who do injustice because they have the power to do both.”
“We work with men and boys as significant stakeholders in fight against gender violence, because they are not only the part of the problem but can also bring forth the solution by persuading others to question and stop violence against women.” The aim behind the WRCP is to embed the realisation that masculinity does not lay in using power against women rather it lies in channelising the power for a better future, he said.
Qatrina Hossein, a journalist, describing the challenges for female journalists said: “Media houses have to be sensitive to ensure the progress of women in media.” She pointed out that “media has to become language sensitive to bring women issues in mainstream.”
The conference initiative is the first ever in the country as the innovative code of ethics for gender sensitive reporting was launched at the conference. The code has been developed in consultation with over 280 journalists across Pakistan after the findings of the WRCP study on gender sensitivity to explore the attitude towards gender specific issues.
According to the study, Pakistani society is still heavily male dominated and the male domination of Pakistani newsrooms is particularly reflected in news coverage of gender-based violence. Women, who make up nearly half of the population of Pakistan, comprise only a tiny fraction of the newsrooms and news story subjects.