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The Government should be pro-actively involved in creating a safe and equitable work environment to facilitate entry of more women in media and also focus on better implementation of pro-women legislations, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said today.
Addressing the first regional conference of South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) here today, she also asked journalists to be more sensitive in reporting issues, especially those related to vulnerable sections of society.
“When women write, they give a more humane angle to stories, especially on issues of women and children. More women should come to journalism and the government should work as a facilitator, arranging training and taking care of issues like housing which sometimes pose a hurdle to them,” she said at the inaugural session of the event, which has been organised to launch the India chapter of SAWM.
Ms Soni pitched for creating a safe and equitable work environment and changing the prevalent mindset in portraying women. She also noted that though Parliament passed many pro-women legislations in the past, sometimes there are “shortcomings and interference” in their enforcement.
“We have a plethora of laws but (we) sometimes go by wayside in implementation,” the Minister said.
She said the Government is setting up four chapters of Indian Institutes of Mass Communication in Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Vidarbha and Mizoram. Speaking on how women scribes coming to Delhi from outside face problems of safe housing, she said these logistic issues will have to be resolved.
Noting that “activism cannot be segregated from journalism”, she quipped, “If I wouldn’t have joined politics 41 years ago, may be I would also have become a journalist.”
The SAWM President, Ms Sharmini Boyle from Sri Lanka, said the association will work for more secure and enabling media environment for women.
Keynote speaker and Shillong Times editor, Ms Patricia Mukhim, said women mediapersons have the responsibility to enable other women to come out of the “ghetto of patriarchy” and challenge marginalisation.
Sessions on issues like ‘changing face of India media’ and ‘new tools in reporting, researching and writing’ are being held as part of the meet, based on the theme of ‘From Telex to Twitter — empowerment through technology’.
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