KOHAT: A training workshop organised by the Journalism Department of Kohat University and Science and Technology on `achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls in Pakistan` on Tuesday emphasised that female reporters should be encouraged for giving due coverage to issues concerning women at the district level.
In his lecture, the department`s chairman Pervez Khan told the correspondents invited to the worl(shop from Kohat and Karak that the male-dominated field had been ignoring the issues of rape, torture, slavery of women and their confinement inside the boundary wall. He said that the media should display the positive side of the women`s role and stop portraying them as lesser human beings.
He said that the bureau offices should hire at least one female journalist for highlighting the problems being faced by women due to cultural and other restrictions. He also briefed them on the techniques of reporting on women`s issues adopted by the prominent world media organisations.
Mr Khan said that the correspondents were not trained at all for covering the women`s achievements in the fields of education, culture, politics and games. He said that it had been observed that in cases of rape and burning the girls were shown as a showpiece and not as victims, and after that nobody cared about them to follow the same stories in police stations, their plight in jails, etc.
During the suggestions session, the correspondents complained about lack of resources and facilities, low salaries, and strict atmosphere which restricted them to go to the males-only functions.
They said that a number of females wanted to join the profession, but still posts of district correspondents were reserved for males. They said that for the first time a lady reporter had been appointed by a social media site in Kohat.
