HYDERABAD: A two day training workshop on Women’s empowerment in Media and Journalism concluded on Tuesday at the Shamsul Daudpota Library.
The event is supported by US Embassy Pakistan in partnership with Pak-US Alumni Network. Project Director Mehwish Abbasi said that students of media and communication studies as well as working journalists were summoned to attend Monday’s session which included a training workshop, tours of the library and a conference. 50 women participated in the segment. She said encouraging women to be a part of the media could highlight women’s issues and empower other women. Senior Journalist Sohail Sangi spoke to The Daily Times at the event, saying that there weren’t enough female journalists in Sindh and the number of women in the industry was even too small in Hyderabad, which is the centre of Sindhi media. Sangi called this situation critical, as women’s issues cannot be highlighted and resolved unless more women are a part of the local media industry. Human Right Activist, Ali Palh said Hyderabad was a confluence of urban and rural populations where students were directionless and did not have any guidance on how to develop themselves intellectually. Khushbakhat, a writer and journalist said that he had a session with young journalists regarding ethics and reporting about women’s issues.
She said she was pleased by their ideas but was sorry to see the one-sided gender ratio in the country’s media. She expressed hope that one day there would be more prominent women journalists. Public Speaker and trainer, Riaz Shaikh stressed that women need to feel free from provocative labels when they enter professional life and that they need to compete with men on equal terms. He said that workshops such as these were the first step in that direction. Training was conducted on conflict reporting, reporting on women based issues (honour killing, harassment, women’s rights, acid attacks and crime), security and safety training, photography, field reporting and media tools.
Workshop on women’s empowerment in media held
