Media personnel trained on gender sensitive reporting

Karachi

As more and more women continue to make their mark in various professional fields world over, efforts to redefine the way working women are perceived by conservative societies were yet to be given due attention.

Attempting to address the issue, the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO) in collaboration with the Freedom Network – a Pakistani media development organisation - launched a two-day special training programme for electronic media journalists from Sindh and Balochistan provinces improve portrayal of women in the world of work; the workshop concluded on Tuesday.

The two-day training, a part of the ILO’s ‘Gender Equality for Decent Employment (GE4DE)’ project, brought together over two dozen young and mid-career reporters and producers, half of them women, of more than 15 TV channels based in the two provinces. 

The workshop was aimed at ensuring that Pakistani women had greater access to equal employment opportunities and decent working conditions in selected economic sectors, and that stakeholders had an increased understanding of and favourable attitudes towards working women’s issues.

Conducted by media analyst Adnan Rehmat and journalist Afia Salam, the workshop included discussions over how women in Pakistan had managed to empower themselves professionally which naturally led to them being economically secure.

 Both theoretical and practical approaches were discussed, whereas interactive sessions and exercises aimed at utilising modern journalistic principles, tools and techniques to improve professional reporting on women, their economic rights, the challenges they face in the way of progress, were also held.

The training was the first in a series of two workshops – the second would be held next week in Islamabad for electronic media reporters and producers based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Islamabad.