'Awareness imperative to end gender-based violence'

Awareness among all segments of the society is imperative to end the gender-based violence from the country, besides addressing the dangerous issues of honour killing.
These were the unanimous views of the participants of the media workshop on "Reporting on Culturally Sensitive issue like Gender Based Violence and Reproductive Health", held at a local hotel on Tuesday under the aegis of Ministry of Women Development and UNFPA. Dr Rakhshanda Parveen, Chief Executive SACHET was resource person while Dr Salman Asif of UNFPA and Narjis Zaidi of MoWD were vocal persons of the workshop.
The participants of the workshop thoroughly discussed the gender based issues including killing, dowry, acid throwing and harassment at work place. Four groups of journalists discussed these issues and drew a consensus for journalist community about the reporting of the gender based violence in media.
They were of the view that all out efforts should be made to raise the awareness graph of people for elimination of violence. They said that the misinterpretation of Islam by people to meet their own interests has aggravated situation and it is responsibility of media person and religious scholars give true picture of Islam regarding these particular issues.
The participants of the workshop also discussed the pressures on journalists while the reporting the gender based issues. "Gender is not sex which is a biological accident, but it is social construction of man and women", said Dr Rakhshanda Parveen, resource person of the workshop.
She said that female feticide, battering of wife, battering of expectant mothers and female infanticide are major aspects of the domestic violence. Talking about impacts of the domestic violence on new born, she said that they are mostly under weight and face higher risk of dying in infancy or childhood.
Narjis Zaidi while talking on the objectives of the workshop said that this will give media professionals an exposure to the gender based violence. The participants of the workshop also drew a code of conduct for the media professionals regarding the reporting of the gender based issues.