Media personnel discuss ways to bridge gender gap, inequality in society | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Media personnel discuss ways to bridge gender gap, inequality in society

KARACHI: Media personnel from some leading organisations of the city Wednesday got together to discuss ways and means to bridge the gender gap and inequality in the society and to change the way gender-sensitive cases were reported in the media.

The consultative session was the second in line of the series, a non-partisan civil society organisation Individualland (IL) Pakistan was planning to host in all major cities of the country. The objectives of the initiative were to build upon the issues discussed during the previous 23 sensitisation sessions held in nine districts of the country and focus on the challenges faced by the media while filing reports related to gender based issues. Shaukat Ali Ashraf moderated the event on behalf of IL Pakistan. The discussions focused on the sensitivity of communicating women related issues through media and selection of appropriate messages.

The media personnel shared their experiences in an interactive manner establishing an honest two-way communication between the moderator and the participants. Most of the participants believed that the time was ripe to create an awareness campaign in the media over the gender-related issues. IL Pakistan has conducted a baseline survey to find trends and perceptions of various media projections among the communities. IL Pakistan, with the support of Aurat Foundation and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) endeavours to take steps that would help create awareness among the society on this sensitive issue through the media personnel related with TV/radio, print and online media. The project would also contribute to lobbying and advocacy of this important issue by using media platforms, particularly to influence the policy formulation process.

The US government, through USAID in partnership with Aurat Foundation launched a five-year gender equity programme in Pakistan in 2010, to advance women’s human rights and support Pakistani government’s policies against gender inequities. Future consultative sessions have been planned for Quetta, Lahore and Islamabad.

Source: Daily Times