ISLAMABAD: Various seminars and conferences were held across the federal capital in order to mark International Women’s Day, which is observed on March 8 each year.

Speaking one such event hosted by the Uks Research Centre on ‘Women in News: newsroom lessons from the past for a better today and tomorrow’ on Thursday, anchor person Asma Shirazi said women journalists are often limited to women’s issues, fairs and markets, fashion and so on which is very restricting.

She said there were very few girls reporting in the field when she joined TV.

She added: “It is more important to have a journalistic approach to women’s issues than to have women reporting and that applies to male journalists. An unbiased approach will only be possible when men approach a topic or situation and report it as seriously and sensitively as a woman does or would”.

Anchor person Imrana Komal said the concept of a good and bad woman persists.

“Harassment in the workplace, in the field and online has happened for years and much of it is done by people in the workplace or others instigated by them,” she said.

She added: “Years ago the owners of the media houses were journalists, now we don’t know what the owners have done in the past, are doing currently or what they are planning to do. We don’t know how they intend to use journalism or for what purpose”.

Veteran journalist Fauzia Shahid said: “It is upsetting that in 2019 what the young journalists are saying they experience reeks of a stagnant, stale society compared to what I experience when I started in 1975. When I joined I refused to do women’s beats, I kept open beats – defence, economy, political and diplomatic reporting.

I did not do typical reporting but investigative pieces and there were threats but there wasn’t the sort of frustration we see in society now. The reporters I started working with were never labelled bad women.”

The next session discussed ‘Gender Equality in News and Newsrooms’.

Award winning journalist Amber Shamsi said less than 5pc of the registered journalists with the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists are women. Many media houses have only a limited number of women who cover restricted beats.

There are obstacles that women have to overcome to work and especially work as journalists because this is a profession that is not a nine-to-five job.

Director news for a national channel Rana Jawad talked about how understanding of sexism and creating equitable spaces have evolved and how there has been improvement, naming some exceptional women reporters in mainstream beats that he has worked with; nevertheless acknowledging societal barriers.

Senior journalist Amir Mateen said that there have been both positive and negative changes. He also pointed out that young women may join journalism but because of various constraints – from transportation to residential concerns in the field – not many remain in the profession.

Aurat Foundation launched the Women Alliance Pakistan (WAP) to empower women at the district level during a ceremony at the National Press Club.

The alliance will focus on empowering women in the rural areas as well as low income and disadvantaged women, build their capacities to assume decision making and leadership positions, raise their own voiced in defence of their basic human rights, exercise their right to meaningful and effective political participation, access to resources and opportunities and inclusion of women’s voices in improved governance and accountability of state institutions with the purpose of eventually achieving the goal of gender equality and gender justice.

The alliance is a continuation of Aurat Foundation’s Community Women Leaders Groups formed in 2008. At that time, Aurat Foundation established groups of 50 women leaders per district, in 30 districts across Pakistan. This activity was gradually expanded and it now covers 50 districts across Pakistan.

At the event on Thursday, alliance leaders presented a resolution which says women in Pakistan are still striving for equality of rights and opportunities.

Among a number of other obstacles, they face horrifying forms of gender-based violence. Some of these include traditional customs and practices, such as swara, vanni, badal-i-sulah (compensation), “honour” killings, gang rapes, sexual harassment in public and private spaces acid crimes, trafficking, abduction, kidnapping, forced conversion, forced marriage, forced prostitution; bonded labour, early/childhood marriage high maternal mortality due to lack of reproductive health services and so on.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2019