ISLAMABAD: Australia`s High Commissioner to Pakistan Neil Hawkins on Thursday highlighted the importance of gender equality and how societies that valued women and men as equal were safer and healthier.

`Australia is strongly committed towards being at the forefront of efforts to empower women and girls and promote gender equality around the world, including here in Pakistan,` Mr Hawkins added. He was speaking ata workshop for media professionals, linked to the 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women. This is the third time that the Australian High Commission has supported a workshop on this topic.

Organised by the commission and the Centre for Excellence in Journalism, the workshop aimed to provide training to journalists on gender-sensitive, ethical, and respectful reporting on violence against women.Speaking about the workshop, Mr Hawkins said:`Gender-based violence is a shared challenge and it remains the most pervasive human rights violation around the world. Unfortunately, prevalence is increasing as a result of intersecting crises of climate change, global conflict, and economic instability.

Crises like the floods that inundated much of the country in August increase the vulnerability of women and girls to many forms of violence,` the high commissioner said.

Mr Hawkins spoke about his visit to Quetta last week, where he met with a number of gender-based violence survivors receiving assistance through the support of Australia. `Providing support and care to survivors of violence is critical. However, the focus needs to be on prevention. We must shift social norms that accept violence and tackle gender stereotypes head on.

`Prevention is the only way to stop violence before it even occurs. This requires greater investment in women`s organisations and addressing multipleforms of discrimination women face daily,` he said, adding the role of media was critical in making this happen. The media has the power to create awareness of rights, needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls, as well as challenging traditional social and cultural norms and attitudes that condone violence against women.

Renowned Australian journalist and advocate for gender equity, Virginia Haussegger joined Pakistani journalists Amber Shamsi, Zarar Kohhro and legal representative Sara Malkhani in the workshops to share experiences about the transformative role media could play in preventing violence against women and girls.

Ms Haussegger said: `Gender based violence is endemic across all nations and in all communities.

`As journalists it is our job to shine a light on systemic failures to keep women safe. It is also critical that we deepen our understanding of the role of perpetrators, and support women and become a voice for them in the media.