Media should fight against violence against women

Speakers of the seminar organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) appreciated the positive role of media to generate public awareness addressing Violence against Women, and said that Media is serving as catalyst in providing justice to the victims of gender related violence.

Bushra Iqbal, Associate Producer, Geo Television Network, Sumera Abbasi, Project Coordinator, Uks, Imdad Hussain, Editor, Online News Agency , Mome Saleem, Research Associate, (SDPI), Ali Jan Mangi, Local Reporter, and Manzor Somoro, Local Reporter  spoke at a seminar on “Role of Media in Addressing Violence Against Women” organized by Sustainable Development policy Institute here on Monday at SDPI seminar hall. The seminar was moderated by Sara Duke, Associate Research Fellow,

Mome Saleem shared findings from her recently conducted research which highlights that media played a very pivotal role in addressing the violence against women.

She also narrated stories of two rape victims 15 years old Asma Khand and 12 years old Anam, who were raped and denied justice but after persistent  media coverage, relevant authorities were forced to act, and get case registered. Ms Bushra Iqbal expressed that although the media is positively highlighting incidents of violence against women.

Mr. Imdad Hussain mentioned violence against women as being rooted in culture and the social belief systems a society adheres to, rather than being rooted in religion or politics. He urged upon media and NGO’s to challenge the ethical grounds of social norms which allow violence against women.

Mr Ali Jan Magsi add that sometime victims get pressurized and change statements , which creates problems for media persons, damaging their credibility and inciting encouragements to offenders and further suppressing other victims .Sumera Abbasi said that media can play an important role in the shaping of perceptions around women and their role in society.

Sara Duke concluded that media can and does perform two paradoxical roles in addressing violence against women. It can serve as a forum to merely reflect discriminatory attitudes and beliefs which further propagates acts of violence against women and the acceptance of it by a society, or it can serve as the voice for change by raising awareness on the issue in a sensitive manner. The media can and should be a positive catalyst for change, rather than merely exist as a “looking glass” of society