Workshop: Journalists urged to highlight gender equality and equity

Society in Gilgit is not against women’s education and the media should play its part in promoting it.

GILGIT: Print and electronic journalists were urged in a workshop to pay attention to issues hindering equality and equity in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B).

“It is our collective responsibility to highlight issues hindering gender equity and equality in our society,” said Shaukat Ali, coordinator of Individual, an Islamabad based NGO, during an address to journalists at Gilgit Press Club on Sunday. More than two dozen journalists participated in the two-day workshop organised by Individual.

“We want you to raise awareness on issues of gender equality and equity,” he said, adding that proper implementation of policies is required for improving women’s status in society. Ali urged the journalists to clearly convey messages regarding women issues and to depict a complete picture of the situation facing women in conservative societies.

Sharing data collected from 23 districts of Pakistan, Ali said that the survey revealed that despite society’s conservative mindset, the media has vast outreach and the public demands that it play a positive role in projecting issues concerning gender, “You are the ears and eyes of the society, therefore you must play your role in a way that is beneficial for society,” he said.

The journalists informed the NGO that G-B had a comparatively flexible society which is not against women education. “Though the G-B literacy rate is encouraging, more efforts are required by the government and NGOs to bring it to 100 percent,” said Gilgit Press Club President Imtiaz Taj.

The journalists also shared their views regarding the independence of the media in G-B, saying that various groups are still influencing media in the region. Later, certificates were distributed among the journalists.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2011.